Haptic perception of curvature through active touch

Haptic perception of curvature can be achieved by passive or active finger touch. In this study we proposed a new curvature perception haptic device that can independently orient, elevate and translate a flat plate. By exploring it with a finger through active touch, we can render a curved shape. According to the characteristics of this device, two curvature rendering motion models were analyzed: motion model without compensation and motion model with position compensation. Two experiments were then executed. Experiment 1 has verified that our device is able to produce distinct curvatures. Experiment 2 has compared the performances obtained with each motion model during the tasks of curved shape discrimination.