Full-hand electrotactile feedback using electronic skin and matrix electrodes for high-bandwidth human-machine interfacing

The available tactile feedback interfaces comprise few sensing and stimulation units, which limits the amount of information conveyed to the user. The present study describes a novel technology that relies on distributed sensing and stimulation to convey comprehensive tactile feedback to the user of a robotic end-effector.

The system comprises six flexible sensing arrays (57 sensors) integrated on the fingers and palm of a robotic hand, embedded electronics (64 channels), a multichannel stimulator (32 channels), and seven flexible electrodes (64 pads) placed on the volar side of the subject’s hand. The system was tested in seven able-bodied subjects asked to recognize contact positions and identify contact sliding on the electronic skin, using distributed (DAC) and single dedicated (SAC) anode configurations.