HUGO, a High-Resolution Tactile Emulator for Complex Surfaces

Many of our activities rely on tactile feedback perceived through mechanoreceptors in our skin. While visual and auditory devices provide immersive experiences, cutaneous feedback devices are typically limited in the range of sensations they provide and are hence usually used and tested on relatively simple synthetic surfaces. We present a device designed in a human-centered process, triggering the mechanoreceptors sensitive to pressure, low-frequency vibrations, and high-frequency vibrations, enabling one to experience touch of complex real-world surfaces. The device is based on a parallel manipulator and a pin-array, that operate simultaneously at 200Hz and emulate coarse and fine geometrical features, respectively. The decomposition into coarse and fine features, alongside the high operation frequency, enable simulation of virtual surfaces. This was corroborated via experiments on complex real-world surfaces via both a quantitative recognition test and a usability questionnaire. We believe that this design can be incorporated in numerous applications.