Low bitrate source-filter model based compression of vibrotactile texture signals in haptic teleoperation

Vibrotactile signals convey the touch-based characteristics of object surfaces felt through a tool. They particularly enhance the quality of human-machine interactions by providing realistic haptic perception of textures. In this paper, inspired by the similarities observed between vibrotactile texture signals and speech signals, we present a novel vibrotactile texture codec for bilateral teleoperation, based on well-known speech coding techniques. The proposed low bitrate, high quality codec preserves not only the spectral signature vital to the general feel of the texture, but also important temporal features of the texture signal. We report a compression ratio of 8:1 (12.5 %) with a constant output bitrate of 4 kbps, and we validate the perceptual transparency of the codec via rigorous subjective tests and analyses.

[1]  Joseph M. Romano,et al.  Haptography: Capturing and Recreating the Rich Feel of Real Surfaces , 2009, ISRR.

[2]  Shuichi Sakamoto,et al.  Selective effects of auditory stimuli on tactile roughness perception , 2008, Brain Research.

[3]  Joseph M. Romano,et al.  Dimensional Reduction of High-Frequency Accelerations for Haptic Rendering , 2010, EuroHaptics.

[4]  Katherine J. Kuchenbecker,et al.  Improving contact realism through event-based haptic feedback , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

[5]  Neil A. Macmillan,et al.  Detection Theory: A User's Guide , 1991 .

[6]  Allison M. Okamura,et al.  Vibration feedback models for virtual environments , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[7]  Satoshi Tadokoro,et al.  Identification of cutaneous detection thresholds against time-delay stimuli for tactile displays , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[8]  Ian Oakley,et al.  A Framework for Haptic Broadcasting , 2009, IEEE MultiMedia.

[9]  Juin-Hwey Chen,et al.  Analysis-by-Synthesis Speech Coding , 2008 .

[10]  S. Lederman.  The perception of surface roughness by active and passive touch , 1981 .

[11]  Robert D. Howe,et al.  Tactile Display of Vibratory Information in Teleoperation and Virtual Environments , 1995, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[12]  G.E. Loeb,et al.  A robust micro-vibration sensor for biomimetic fingertips , 2008, 2008 2nd IEEE RAS & EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics.

[13]  M. Hollins,et al.  Vibrotactile intensity and frequency information in the Pacinian system: A psychophysical model , 2005, Perception & psychophysics.

[14]  Joseph M. Romano,et al.  High frequency acceleration feedback significantly increases the realism of haptically rendered textured surfaces , 2010, 2010 IEEE Haptics Symposium.

[15]  Olarn Wongwirat,et al.  Haptic media synchronization for remote surgery through simulation , 2006, IEEE MultiMedia.

[16]  J. Craig.  Difference threshold for intensity of tactile stimuli , 1972 .

[17]  Sandra Hirche,et al.  Perception-Based Data Reduction and Transmission of Haptic Data in Telepresence and Teleaction Systems , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.

[18]  M. Hollins,et al.  The vibrations of texture , 2003, Somatosensory & motor research.

[19]  Neil A. Macmillan,et al.  Detection theory: A user's guide, 2nd ed. , 2005 .

[20]  Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann,et al.  Haptics in virtual reality and multimedia , 2006, IEEE MultiMedia.

[21]  Katherine J. Kuchenbecker,et al.  Tool Contact Acceleration Feedback for Telerobotic Surgery , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

[22]  Jochen Lang,et al.  IIR Filter Models of Haptic Vibration Textures , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[23]  Ronald W. Schafer,et al.  Introduction to Digital Speech Processing , 2007, Found. Trends Signal Process..

[24]  Abdulmotaleb El-Saddik,et al.  A haptic multimedia handwriting learning system , 2007, Emme '07.

[25]  Thomas B. Sheridan,et al.  Supervisory control of remote manipulation , 1967, IEEE Spectrum.

[26]  C J Vierck,et al.  A critical band filter in touch , 1995, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[27]  Yoji Yamada,et al.  Perceptual properties of vibrotactile material texture: Effects of amplitude changes and stimuli beneath detection thresholds , 2010, 2010 IEEE/SICE International Symposium on System Integration.

[28]  Domenico Prattichizzo,et al.  Perceptual Issues in Haptic Digital Watermarking , 2007, IEEE MultiMedia.

[29]  Eckehard Steinbach,et al.  Exploiting directional dependencies of force perception for lossy haptic data reduction , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Haptic Audio Visual Environments and Games.