Ryan T. Yardley’s research while affiliated with University of Utah and other places

Haptic devices have the ability to convey information to users through touch. Often, this method of communication can be preferable to more traditional means of communication, such as visual or audio displays. For example, a haptic device could provide directional skin stretch to communicate navigational cues as an alternative to audio commands. Prior work has shown that directional skin stretch applied on the fingertips can be accurately recognized with displacements less than 0.2 mm. While the fingertips excel at accurately discerning direction cues, it is often desirable to leave the fingers unencumbered for other tasks. This desire has motivated an effort to explore other locations to which direction cues can be applied. Studies of human sensitivity indicate that the hand or forearm may be a good location for skin stretch cues. Based on this information, a portable device was designed that applies direction cues to the forearm. The process of designing this device began with testing to estimate the magnitude of skin stretch required to accurately convey direction cues for a variety of forearm and hand locations. Based on these results, a forearm-mounted skin stretch prototype capable of 2 mm skin displacements was designed and fabricated. A qualitative evaluation of an initial prototype contributed several useful insights that aided in the design of the final device prototype.