Haptic communication system using cutaneous actuators for simulation of continuous human touch
摘要
說明書
In alternative embodiments of the broadband signal generator 1816, the carrier signal generator 1872 may be located within the actuator signal generator 1876. In these embodiments, the sensor signals 1806 may be transmitted by the actuator signal generator 1876 to a PLL section of the carrier signal generator 1872 to alter the instantaneous frequency values of the generated broadband carrier signals 1828 to generate the actuator signals 1818. The sensor signals or parameters 1852 may be transmitted by the actuator signal generator 1876 to a level controller section of the carrier signal generator 1872 to alter the instantaneous amplitude values of the generated broadband carrier signals 1828 to generate the actuator signals 1818.
The benefits and advantages of the embodiments disclosed herein are as follows. In general, human evolution has imposed limitations on the spatial and temporal density of transcutaneous information transfer. A human user's skin is optimized to convey information that is transient in nature and requires immediate response, while filtering out stable, nonthreatening stimuli. Precise localization is less important than quickly drawing attention to the general area of stimulation, so that there is not a selective advantage for an organism to develop high spatial resolution. In nature, sustained stimuli are uninformative and distracting, so the well-known phenomenon of sensory adaptation is beneficial, but limits the duration that engineered information conveying stimuli can be delivered without becoming irritating or filtered out by sensory adaptation. The embodiments disclosed herein use this knowledge of the skin's response characteristics to generate the actuator signals 1818 for better transmission of the message.
