Design and qualitative evaluation of tactile devices for stroke rehabilitation

Rehabilitation environments combining virtual reality with everyday motor tasks can promote recovery from neurological illness, such as stroke. Tactile devices, providing physical stimulation to the skin, may improve motor retraining. While many tactile devices have been reported, there is a distinct paucity of studies evaluating how they are perceived. This multidisciplinary research has investigated three tactile devices (vibration motors, a motor-driven ‘squeezer’, and shape memory alloys) for providing a realistic sensation of static interaction with virtual objects. These devices have been iteratively redesigned and qualitatively evaluated with healthy human participants. This paper presents the devices, their evaluation, and iterative redesign.