Intuitive micromanipulation with haptic audio feedback

We developed intuitive micromanipulation system equipped with a novel haptic audio feedback system. The micro tactile sensor (MTS) was employed on a micromanipulation probe. This system was examined theoretically and tested experimentally to show that the MTS could detect (l) the moment of touch from sudden shinft in resonance frequency, (2) stiffness of the objects from the slope value between /spl Delta/f and displacement, and (3) contact pressure from further change in resonance frequency. These states were expressed as (l) the start of a sound, (2) the change of the pitch, and (3) the change in the interval of an intermittent sound, respectively.