Goetz et al., Exploiting Biomechanical Resonance for Tactile Source Reloc..., Haptics Symposium 2024
Channel: IEEE Haptics Symposium
Date: 2024-04-05

Haptics Symposium 2024
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https://www.hapticssymposium.org/
In this demonstration, we present a method to manipulate the perceived location of a tactile stimulus by leveraging resonant modes of the hand’s articulated structure. To achieve this, we manipulate the frequency content of a localized tactile stimulus in relation to identified resonant frequencies of the hand. Using this approach, we modulate the perceived spatial location of a tactile source that is applied at one skin location, causing it to be perceived to originate at a passive secondary contact up to 5 cm away, contingent on the stimulus frequency. We illustrate this effect using a demonstration (Fig. 1A) that comprises a tactile actuator that delivers localized vibrations to the fingertip (C1) and a support that makes passive contact with the hand at a different location (C2). During the demonstration, participants are asked to discern the origin, C1 or C2, of brief tactile stimuli. Despite the application of vibrations solely at C1, the perceived origin alternates between C1 and C2 across trials depending on the vibration’s frequency content relative to the characteristic frequency of a prominent oscillatory mode of the hand’s articulated structure.