Haptic feedback in a teleoperated box & blocks task

Abstract

Haptic feedback is a desired feature in teleoperation as it can improve dexterous manipulation. Direct force feedback to the operator’s hand and fingers requires complex hardware and therefore substituting force by for instance vibration is a relevant topic. In this experiment, we tested performance on a Box & Blocks task in a teleoperation set-up with no feedback, direct force feedback and substituted vibration feedback. Objective performance was the same in all conditions as was the learning effect over three sessions, but participants had a clear preference for haptic feedback over no haptic feedback. The preferred type of feedback (force or vibration or both) varied over participants. In general, this study showed that haptic feedback is preferred in teleoperation, the Box & Blocks task seems not sensitive enough for our (and most) current teleoperation set-up(s), and vibration feedback as substitute for direct force feedback works well and can be used intuitively.