Humans sense by touch the location of objects that roll in handheld containers.

Humans use active touch to gain behaviourally relevant information from their environment, including information about contained objects. Although most common, the perceptual basis of interacting with containers remains largely unexplored. The first aim of this study was to determine how accurately people can sense, by touch only, the location of a contained rolling object.

Identification of walked-upon materials in auditory, kinesthetic, haptic, and audio-haptic conditions.

Locomotion generates multisensory information about walked-upon objects. How perceptual systems use such information to get to know the environment remains unexplored. The ability to identify solid (e.

Design and analysis of a recoil-type vibrotactile transducer.

This article describes the design of a high-bandwidth, iron-less, recoil-based electromagnetic vibrotactile actuator. Its working principle, the theoretical analysis, the method used to determine its transfer function, its scaling properties and its design constraints are discussed along with its fabrication and possible improvements.

Perceived Vibration Strength in Mobile Devices: The Effect of Weight and Frequency.

This paper addresses the question of strength perception for vibration signals used in mobile devices. Employing devices similar to standard cell phones and using pulsed vibration signals to combat adaptation effects, experiments were performed to study the effect of weight and underlying on perceived strength. Results shows that for the same measured acceleration on the device, a heavier box is perceived to vibrate with greater strength.

A tactile enhancement instrument for minimally invasive surgery.

Objective: During minimally invasive arthroscopy, surgeons use probes as diagnostic tools to detect tissue anomalies. Improving tactile sensitivity during this activity would be valuable.

Materials And Methods: We developed an enhanced probe that could enhance the tactile sensations experienced while probing objects.