A study on the sources of perceptual instability during haptic texture rendering

This paper reports on the results of our current research towards a qualitative characterization of the instability that a human user often perceives from a virtual textured surface rendered with a force-reflecting haptic interface. Based on our previous study of perceptual instability during haptic texture rendering, an experiment is designed and conducted in order to measure the proximal stimuli delivered by the virtual textures in terms of several physical variables (position, force, and acceleration). The measured data are analyzed in the frequency domain and characterized by sensation levels with regards to the human detection thresholds for temporal stimuli. In particular, a spectral band that conveys texture information and another one that induces instability perception are identified along with their associated sensation levels. These frequency bands excite different mechanoreceptors in the skin, and are therefore perceptually distinctive