The question
A robotic limb that inspects a surface by touch, as in minimally invasive surgery, can be driven by the operator or left to explore on its own. Does giving the operator direct finger control, with the contact vibrations fed back to their own fingertip, help them identify what the robot is touching?
What was built
The video above shows the interface in use during the study.
A finger-worn interface: a small motion sensor on the index finger steers a robot arm carrying a probe, and an accelerometer on the probe drives a vibration motor on the operator's fingernail, so contact is felt where the finger would feel it. Eighteen participants identified textures, positions and shapes on silicone test plates, once by teleoperating the robot and once by letting it scan automatically.
What was found
Teleoperation gave higher average accuracy, most clearly for texture, where it led by about 20 points, but the spread between participants was large and the differences were not statistically significant. Performance depended strongly on the task and the person. The conclusion points towards combining the two modes, automated scanning with operator control where fine discrimination matters, together with richer haptic feedback.