WireMan: a portable wire manipulator for touch-rendering of bas-relief virtual surfaces

Abstract

An haptic interface actuated by parallel wires is under development. Differently from other known wire-based haptic devices, the proposed system explicitly addresses the capability to be tailored on a human body in order to obtain a portable interface, that should be used for achieving haptic perception by visually impaired people. The device is based on a system of three concurrent wires connected to the operator's finger, obtaining 3D mobility capabilities. The paper shows in particular how this device can be efficiently used in the exploration of bas-relief virtual surfaces in spite of its intrinsic manipulability limits. This capability has been fully confirmed by preliminary 2D tests, whose results are presented and discussed.