Vibrotactile pattern recognition on the torso with one and two dimensional displays

This research focused on the evaluation of a tactile display that is used for navigation and communication. In the first experiment, a four by four array of vibrating motors (tactors) was mounted on the torso while the subject wore an Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) vest. Subjects were required to identify which of eight patterns was presented. The results indicated that subjects could recognize the patterns presented with perfect accuracy, which indicates that wearing heavy body armor over the display does not affect the ability to perceive tactile inputs. A second set of experiments involved a one-dimension tactile array of eight tactors worn around the waist. The results indicated that the subjects could recognize the six circumferential patterns presented with an accuracy of 98-100% correct. A further experiment confirmed that the linear tactile display could be used to provide cues about the location of an event in the environment. These experiments showed that identification of the vibrotactile patterns was slightly superior on the two-dimension tactile array on the torso as compared to the one-dimension tactile array around the waist.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Lam, Amy R. (Amy Rebecca)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lynette A. Jones.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36738

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36738