Frequency modulation based vibrotactile feedback vs visual feedback in a multimodal interface for 3D pointing tasks in teleoperation

This study compares the usage vibrotactile and visual feedbacks as navigational cues supporting tele-operated 3D pointing tasks within cluttered environments. In this perspective, subjects were asked to reach a target in the remote 3D space with an industrial robot arm while keeping the robot arm always touching a soft foam surface. Visual feedback was provided through a real-time video stream from robot´s site while the vibro-tactile one was delivered through HANDISSIMA, the wireless vibro-tactile glove we developed and which is based on the Frequency Modulation Based Vibro-tactile metaphor (FMBV). As expected, the results we obtained show better results in terms of execution time for the visual feedback. As well, the trajectory length with both feedbacks was found similar. However, the average amount of force applied by operators obtained with the visual feedback is considerably larger the one with FMBV feedback.