Robots come into physical contact with humans in both experimental and operational settings. Many potential factors motivate the detection of human contact, ranging from safe robot operation around humans, to robot behaviors that depend on human guidance. This article presents a review of current research within the field of Tactile Human–Robot Interactions (Tactile HRI), where physical contact...

We present evidence that resonance properties of rat vibrissae differentially amplify high-frequency and complex tactile signals. Consistent with a model of vibrissa mechanics, optical measurements of vibrissae revealed that their first mechanical resonance frequencies systematically varied from low (60-100 Hz) in longer, posterior vibrissae to high ( approximately 750 Hz) in shorter, anterior ...

Following focal sensory adaptation, the perceived separation between visual stimuli that straddle the adapted region is often exaggerated. For instance, in the tilt aftereffect illusion, adaptation to tilted lines causes subsequently viewed lines with nearby orientations to be perceptually repelled from the adapted orientation. Repulsion illusions in the nonvisual senses have been less studied....

Observing touch on another person's body activates brain regions involved in tactile perception, even when the observer's body is not directly stimulated. Previous work has shown that in some synaesthetes, this effect induces a sensation of being touched. The present study shows that if perceptual thresholds are experimentally manipulated, viewing touch can modulate tactile experience in nonsyn...

Signal detection was used as a ‘tertiary’ task to assess drivers’ ‘spare processing capacity’ during the performance of two in-vehicle information systems (IVIS). The main aims of the study were: a) to establish if performance on signal detection can be used to assess IVIS safety during driving and b) to determine whether signal modality is important for this assessment. Participants performed ...

Electronic Travel Aids (ETAs) improve the mobility of visually-impaired persons, but it is not easy to develop an ETA satisfying all the factors needed for reliable object detection, effective notification, and actual usability. In this study, the authors developed an easy-to-use ETA having the function of reliable object detection and its successful feedback to the user by tactile stimulation....

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to investigate whether obese children and adolescents have a disturbed body representation as compared to normal-weight participants matched for age and gender and whether their body representation changes in the course of an inpatient weight-reduction program. METHODS Sixty obese (OBE) and 27 normal-weight (NW) children and adolescents (age: 9-17) were asse...

OBJECTIVE To characterize the nature of sensory impairments after stroke, identify associated factors, and assess the relationships between sensory impairment, disability, and recovery. METHODS Prospective cross-sectional survey of 102 people with hemiparesis following their first stroke. Tactile and proprioceptive sensation in the affected arm and leg were measured using the Rivermead Assess...