Development of a multi-joint electrostatic brake-based wearable haptic device for object recognition in VR environments

Abstract

Haptic gloves allow for an immersive and realistic experience of interacting with objects in virtual reality (VR) by combining tactile sensations with visual information. Previous approaches concentrated on providing feedback to the fingertips or distal phalanges while paying little attention to the remaining phalanges. This idea proposes a haptic glove that provides force input to all finger areas, from fingertips to proximal phalanges, improving the perception of object forms during VR gripping activities. The designed double-layer and multi-stacked electrostatic clutches (ES clutches) function as an electrostatic brake (ES brake) for each phalanx, allowing for high-resolution force feedback in a lightweight structure (130 grams) that is nevertheless wearable and usable. Validation of user perception performance demonstrated significant improvement in the perception of phalanx angle positions and an overall enhanced experience of realism and immersion when interacting with objects of varying shapes in VR.