@article {3217, title = {W-FYD: a Wearable Fabric-based Display for Haptic Multi-Cue Delivery and Tactile Augmented Reality}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Haptics}, volume = {11}, year = {2018}, pages = {304 - 316}, chapter = {304}, abstract = {

Despite the importance of softness, there is no evidence of wearable haptic systems able to deliver controllable softness cues. Here, we present the Wearable Fabric Yielding Display (W-FYD), a fabric-based display for multi-cue delivery that can be worn on user{\textquoteright}s finger and enables, for the first time, both active and passive softness exploration. It can also induce a sliding effect under the finger-pad. A given stiffness profile can be obtained by modulating the stretching state of the fabric through two motors. Furthermore, a lifting mechanism allows to put the fabric in contact with the user{\textquoteright}s finger-pad, to enable passive softness rendering. In this paper, we describe the architecture of W-FYD, and a thorough characterization of its stiffness workspace, frequency response and softness rendering capabilities. We also computed device Just Noticeable Difference in both active and passive exploratory conditions, for linear and non-linear stiffness rendering as well as for sliding direction perception. The effect of device weight was also considered. Furthermore, performance of participants and their subjective quantitative evaluation in detecting sliding direction and softness discrimination tasks are reported. Finally, applications of W-FYD in tactile augmented reality for open palpation are discussed, opening interesting perspectives in many fields of human-machine interaction.

}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, issn = {1939-1412}, doi = {10.1109/TOH.2017.2708717}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8003491/}, author = {S. Fani and S. Ciotti and E. Battaglia and A. Moscatelli and M. Bianchi} } @article {3216, title = {Postural Hand Synergies during Environmental Constraint Exploitation}, journal = {Fronters in Neurorobotics}, year = {2017}, month = {08/2017}, abstract = {

Humans are able to intuitively exploit the shape of an object and environmental constraints to achieve stable grasps and perform dexterous manipulations. In doing that, a vast range of kinematic strategies can be observed. However, in this work we formulate the hypothesis that such ability can be described in terms of a synergistic behavior in the generation of hand postures, i.e., using a reduced set of commonly used kinematic patterns. This is in analogy with previous studies showing the presence of such behavior in different tasks, such as grasping. We investigated this hypothesis in experiments performed by six subjects, who were asked to grasp objects from a flat surface. We quantitatively characterized hand posture behavior from a kinematic perspective, i.e., the hand joint angles, in both pre-shaping and during the interaction with the environment. To determine the role of tactile feedback, we repeated the same experiments but with subjects wearing a rigid shell on the fingertips to reduce cutaneous afferent inputs. Results show the persistence of at least two postural synergies in all the considered experimental conditions and phases. Tactile impairment does not alter significantly the first two synergies, and contact with the environment generates a change only for higher order Principal Components. A good match also arises between the first synergy found in our analysis and the first synergy of grasping as quantified by previous work. The present study is motivated by the interest of learning from the human example, extracting lessons that can be applied in robot design and control. Thus, we conclude with a discussion on implications for robotics of our findings.

}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2017.00041}, url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2017.00041/full}, author = {C. Della Santina and M. Bianchi and G. Averta and S. Ciotti and V. Arapi and S. Fani and E. Battaglia and M. G. Catalano and M. Santello and A. Bicchi} } @conference {2723, title = {A Wearable Fabric-based Display for Haptic Multi-Cue Delivery}, booktitle = {IEEE Haptics Symposium}, year = {2016}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Philadelphia, USA, April 8-11, 2016}, abstract = {

Softness represents one of the most informative

haptic properties, which plays a fundamental role in both

everyday tasks and more complex procedures. Thus, it is not

surprising that much effort has been devoted to designing haptic

systems able to suitably reproduce this information. At the

same time, wearability has gained an increasing importance as

a novel paradigm to enable a more effective and naturalistic

human robot interaction. Capitalizing upon our previous works

on grounded softness devices, in this paper we present the

Wearable Fabric Yielding Display (W-FYD), a fabric-based

tactile display for multi-cue delivery that can be worn by

user{\textquoteright}s finger. W-FYD enables to implement both passive and

active tactile exploration. Different levels of stiffness can be

reproduced by modulating the stretching state of a fabric

through two DC motors. An additional vertical degree of

freedom is implemented through a lifting mechanism, which

enables to convey softness stimuli to the user{\textquoteright}s finger pad.

Furthermore, a sliding effect on the finger can be also induced.

Experiments with humans show the effectiveness of W-FYD for

haptic multi-cue delivery.

}, keywords = {Haptics, Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/HAPTICS.2016.7463190}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/search/searchresult.jsp?queryText=A\%20Wearable\%20Fabric-based\%20Display\%20for\%20Haptic\%20Multi-Cue\%20Delivery\&newsearch=true}, author = {M. Bianchi and E. Battaglia and M. Poggiani and S. Ciotti and A. Bicchi} }