Electrotactile feedback applications for hand and arm interactions: A systematic review, meta-analysis, and future directions

Abstract

Haptic feedback is critical in a broad range of human-machine/computer-interaction applications. However, the high cost and low portability/wearability of haptic devices remains an unresolved issue, severely limiting the adoption of this otherwise promising technology. Electrotactile interfaces have the advantage of being more portable and wearable due to its reduced actuators' size, as well as benefiting from lower power consumption and manufacturing cost. The usages of electrotactile feedback have been explored in human-computer interaction and human-machine-interaction for facilitating hand-based interactions in applications such as prosthetics, virtual reality, robotic teleoperation, surface haptics, portable devices, and rehabilitation. This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of electrotactile feedback systems for hand-based interactions in the last decade. We categorize the different electrotactile systems according to their type of stimulation and implementation/application. We also present and discuss a quantitative congregation of the findings, so as to offer a high-level overview into the state-of-art and suggest future directions. Electrotactile feedback was successful in rendering and/or augmenting most tactile sensations, eliciting perceptual processes, and improving performance in many scenarios, especially in those where the wearability/portability of the system is important. However, knowledge gaps, technical drawbacks, and methodological limitations were detected, which should be addressed in future studies.

The Haptic Fidelity Framework: A Qualitative Overview and Categorization of Cutaneous-Based Haptic Technologies Through Fidelity

“…Haptic technologies in consumer electronic and screen-based devices mainly convey feedback via cutaneous information. While technologies that convey haptic information via kinesthetic [25], mid-air interaction [26], electrotactile [27] or thermal cues [28] can be valuable to interfaces, this review paper is tailored haptic technologies most relevant to consumer devices: cutaneous technologies that sense information based on mechanoreceptors. Fig.…”

Novel Neurostimulation-Based Haptic Feedback Platform for Grasp Interactions With Virtual Objects

“…Consideration has also been given to the use of non-invasive sensory substitution techniques such as mechanical (Colella et al, 2019;Pezent et al, 2019) and electro-tactile (Hummel et al, 2016;Kourtesis et al, 2021;Vizcay et al, 2021) stimulation, which activate cutaneous receptors in the user's skin, to convey information about touch and grasping actions in virtual environments. But these approaches are not intuitive, can restrict finger mobility if mounted on the hands or fingers, and often require remapping and learning due to percept modality and location mismatch.…”