Haptic interfaces: a new interaction paradigm

Haptic interfaces have ordinarily been used as tools in the exploration of virtual environments as well as masters in teleoperation systems. In these systems the haptic interfaces have been commonly employed only to reproduce and simulate contact experience with a simulated or remote environment. This use is good enough for the realization of high quality simulators such as VETIR. All actions in simulators are generated by a precise set of rules which determine the correct feedback stimuli to be presented to the operator. In the article, haptic interfaces are presented as stand alone systems having their own and independent control. Consequently we explore the control capabilities and we identify a new extended interaction paradigm which provides to the machine the capability of interpreting the human actions and organizing a new high level feedback. The paper introduces a general structure for such a type of systems called reactive systems. A large set of interactive systems, such as tutors, trainers as well as technological aids for rehabilitation can be easily realized with the presented architecture.