Haptic Interfaces

In general the word " haptic " refers to the sense of touch. This sense is essentially twofold, including both cutaneous touch and kinesthetic touch. Cutaneous touch refers to the sensation of surface features and tactile perception and is usually conveyed through the skin. Kinesthetic touch sensations, which arise within the muscles and tendons, allow us to interpret where our limbs are in space and in relation to ourselves. Haptic sensation combines both tactile and kinesthetic sensations. The sense of touch is one of the most informative senses that humans possess. Mechanical interaction with a given environment is vital when a sense of presence is desired, or when a user wishes to manipulate objects within a remote or virtual environment with manual dexterity. The haptic display, or force-reflecting interface, is the robotic device that allows the user to interact with a virtual environment or teleoperated remote system. The haptic interface consists of a real-time display of a virtual or remote environment and a manipulator, which serves as the interface between the human operator and the simulation. The user moves within the virtual or remote environment by moving the robotic device. Haptic feedback, which is essentially force or touch feedback in a man– machine interface, allows computer simulations of various tasks to relay realistic, tangible sensations to a user. Haptic feedback allows objects typically simulated visually to take on actual physical properties, such as mass, hardness, and texture. It is also possible to realistically simulate gravitational fields as well as any other physical sensation that can be mathematically represented. With the incorporation of haptic feedback into virtual or remote environments, users have the ability to push, pull, feel, and manipulate objects in virtual space rather than just seeing a representation on a video screen.