LinkGlide-S: A Wearable Multi-Contact Tactile Display Aimed at Rendering Object Softness at the Palm with Impedance Control in VR and Telemanipulation

LinkGlide-S is a novel wearable hand-worn tactile display to deliver multi-contact and multi-modal stimuli at the user’s palm. The array of inverted five-bar linkages generates three independent contact points to cover the whole palm area. The independent contact points generate various tactile patterns at the user’s hand, providing multi-contact tactile feedback. An impedance control delivers the stiffness of objects according to different parameters. Three experiments were performed to evaluate the perception of patterns, investigate the realistic perception of object interaction in Virtual Reality, and assess the users’ softness perception by the impedance control. The experimental results revealed a high recognition rate for the generated patterns. These results confirm that the performance of LinkGlide-S is adequate to detect and manipulate virtual objects with different stiffness. This novel haptic device can potentially achieve a highly immersive VR experience and more interactive applications during telemanipulation.