A study on the design and performance of a tactile display by tactile feeling discrimination

• Main Author: Li, Xin Yi
• Other Authors: Zhang Yilei
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/71394
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The tactile display is a man-machine interface that can transmit information through the skin by the sense of touch. It can reproduce, as closely as possible, the tactile parameters of an object, such as shape, surface texture, roughness and temperature. The tactile sensations are made achievable by stimulating numerous tactile receptors/mechanoreceptors which are embedded in the skin. An understanding of the functional characteristics of these mechanoreceptors is essential to the development of effective tactile displays. Among the many types of tactile displays that have been developed, most researches and applications have focused on the “pin-based” concept. This report aims to investigate the performance of an existing 3 x 3, pin-based tactile display prototype based on the experimentation of tactile feeling discrimination. To enhance the results of its performance, minor physical modification has been implemented to the design. The viability of the presentation of various tactile sensations by the proposed tactile display design will be validated through emulating relevant experiments performed in previous research studies and comparing the results obtained. From which, the development of software programming required to fulfil the desired outcomes of the experiments will be illustrated in detail. In addition, a new quantification method for roughness representation will be introduced. With respect to analysis, coorelations are determined to be established between the control parameters involved and the output of tactile feeling generated. Both the comparison of results and analysis would help to identify any underlying limitations exhibit by the tactile display prototype. Finally, the report will suggest some future works that could be carried out in this area of work.