An analysis of perceptual instability during haptic texture rendering

This paper investigates the problem of perceived instability during haptic texture rendering. We focus on the perceptual analysis of the stability of textured surfaces rendered with a force-reflecting device. The method of limits is used to assess the detection thresholds for perceived instability in terms of the stiffness of the virtual textured surfaces. We varied texture rendering method, exploration mode, and the amplitude and spatial wavelength of a sinusoidal surface texture model. Our results show that the maximum stiffness value for perceptually stable texture rendering is quite small (<0.45 N/mm) for the range of textured surfaces tested. We also found that the stiffness thresholds depend on many factors such as rendering method, exploration mode, inter-subject difference, and surface model. Our current and future work focuses on the sources of perceived instability during haptic texture rendering. With these studies, we hope to develop strategies that can mitigate the problem of perceived instability during texture and other types of haptic rendering.