Electrotactile haptic display on the fingertips: preliminary results

Author

Kaczmarek, Kurt A. ; Tyler, Mitchell E. ; Bach-y-Rita, Paul

Author_Institution

Dept. of Rehabilitation Med., Wisconsin Univ., Madison, WI, USA

fYear

1994

fDate

1994

Firstpage

940

Abstract

Electrical stimulation of the sense of touch may be used to display pictorial information to blind computer users via a fingertip-scanned (haptic) touch tablet containing embedded electrodes. This might be particularly useful to users of systems with graphical user interfaces, or with drawing and layout software. Electrotactile (electrocutaneous) stimulation on the fingertip, however, differs substantially from that on other body locations. We discuss the implications of designing a practical graphics haptic display by addressing the high-resistance and variable nature of the fingertip electrode-skin interface

Keywords

bioelectric phenomena; graphical user interfaces; handicapped aids; skin; blind computer users; drawing software; electrical stimulation; electrocutaneous stimulation; electrotactile haptic display; embedded electrodes; fingertip electrode-skin interface; fingertip-scanned haptic touch tablet; fingertips; graphical user interfaces; high-resistance; layout software; pictorial information; practical graphics haptic display; touch sense; Circuits; Coaxial components; Computer displays; Computer graphics; Electrodes; Embedded computing; Fingers; Haptic interfaces; Insulation life; Skin;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1994. Engineering Advances: New Opportunities for Biomedical Engineers. Proceedings of the 16th Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD

Print_ISBN

0-7803-2050-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.1994.415223

Filename

415223