Integrating tactile and force feedback for highly dynamic tasks: Technological, experimental and epistemological aspects

For hand-object interaction in real situations the interplay between the local tactile interaction and force interaction seems to be very important. In current haptic interfaces, however, two different trends are present: force feedback devices which offer a permanent invariable grip and a resultant force, and tactile devices, which offer variable local patterns, often used for texture rendering. The purpose of the present work is to combine the two types of devices in a coherent manner. In the new device presented here, the tactile stimulation is obtained from strictly the same interaction loop, and obeys to the same physical model, as the force feedback, providing the information on the spatial distribution of forces circulating between the object and the fingertip. An experiment on following sharp edges of virtual object comparing the force feedback alone and different tactile augmentations is presented and discussed, alone with some open epistemological issues.