Hand-Skill Learning Using Outer-Covering Haptic Display

During hand-skill learning, it is important for the learner to manipulate a tool with the appropriate amount of force. Haptic training systems in which a tool is directly actuated are therefore undesirable due to the fact that the force applied to the tool is assisted by an actuator. We report a method in which we have replaced guiding by a tool with an outer-covering haptic display in which a guidance sensation was imparted to the back of a learner’s hand. To show the effectiveness of this approach for hand-skill learning, we conducted experiments with comparisons to two existing methods: a haptic guidance system in which the tool is directly actuated and a visual information guidance system.