Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems – serie

The sense of touch is fundamental during the interaction between humans and their environment; in virtual reality, objects are created by computer simulations and they can be experienced through haptic devices. In this context haptic textures are fundamental for a realistic haptic perception of virtual objects.This book formalizes the specific artefacts corrupting the rendering of virtual haptic textures and offers a set of simple conditions to guide haptic researchers towards artefact-free textures. The conditions identified are also extremely valuable when designing psychophysical experiments and when analyzing the significance of the data collected.The Synthesis of Three Dimensional Haptic Textures, Geometry, Control, and Psychophysics examines the problem of rendering virtual haptic textures with force feedback devices. The author provides an introduction to the topic of haptic textures that covers the basics of the physiology of the skin, the psychophysics of roughness perception, and the engineering challenges behind haptic textures rendering. The book continues with the presentation of a novel mathematical framework that characterizes haptic devices, texturing algorithms and their ability to generate realistic haptic textures. Finally, two psychophysical experiments link the perception of roughness with the parameters of the haptic rendering algorithms.This book formalizes the specific artefacts corrupting the rendering of virtual haptic textures and offers a set of simple conditions to guide haptic researchers towards artefact-free textures. The conditions identified are also extremely valuable when designing psychophysical experiments and when analyzing the significance of the data collected.

The focus from most Virtual Reality (VR) systems lies mainly on the visual immersion of the user. But the emphasis only on the visual perception is insufficient for some applications as the user is limited in his interactions within the VR. Therefore the textbook presents the principles and theoretical background to develop a VR system that is able to create a link between physical simulations and haptic rendering which requires update rates of 1\,kHz for the force feedback. Special attention is given to the modeling and computation of contact forces in a two-finger grasp of textiles. Addressing further the perception of small scale surface properties like roughness, novel algorithms are presented that are not only able to consider the highly dynamic behaviour of textiles but also capable ofcomputing the small forces needed for the tactile rendering at the contact point. Final analysis of the entire VR system is being made showing the problems and the solutions found in the work

The sense of touch is fundamental during the interaction between humans and their environment; in virtual reality, objects are created by computer simulations and they can be experienced through haptic devices. In this context haptic textures are fundamental for a realistic haptic perception of virtual objects.This book formalizes the specific artefacts corrupting the rendering of virtual haptic textures and offers a set of simple conditions to guide haptic researchers towards artefact-free textures. The conditions identified are also extremely valuable when designing psychophysical experiments and when analyzing the significance of the data collected.The Synthesis of Three Dimensional Haptic Textures, Geometry, Control, and Psychophysics examines the problem of rendering virtual haptic textures with force feedback devices. The author provides an introduction to the topic of haptic textures that covers the basics of the physiology of the skin, the psychophysics of roughness perception, and the engineering challenges behind haptic textures rendering. The book continues with the presentation of a novel mathematical framework that characterizes haptic devices, texturing algorithms and their ability to generate realistic haptic textures. Finally, two psychophysical experiments link the perception of roughness with the parameters of the haptic rendering algorithms.This book formalizes the specific artefacts corrupting the rendering of virtual haptic textures and offers a set of simple conditions to guide haptic researchers towards artefact-free textures. The conditions identified are also extremely valuable when designing psychophysical experiments and when analyzing the significance of the data collected.

The focus from most Virtual Reality (VR) systems lies mainly on the visual immersion of the user. But the emphasis only on the visual perception is insufficient for some applications as the user is limited in his interactions within the VR. Therefore the textbook presents the principles and theoretical background to develop a VR system that is able to create a link between physical simulations and haptic rendering which requires update rates of 1\,kHz for the force feedback. Special attention is given to the modeling and computation of contact forces in a two-finger grasp of textiles. Addressing further the perception of small scale surface properties like roughness, novel algorithms are presented that are not only able to consider the highly dynamic behaviour of textiles but also capable ofcomputing the small forces needed for the tactile rendering at the contact point. Final analysis of the entire VR system is being made showing the problems and the solutions found in the work

Immersive Multimodal Interactive Presence presents advanced interdisciplinary approaches that connect psychophysical and behavioral haptics research with advances in haptic technology and haptic rendering. It delivers a summary of the results achieved in the IMMERSENCE European project and includes selected chapters by international researchers. Organized into two parts: I. Psychophysical and Behavioral Basis and II. Technology and Rendering, it is an excellent example of interdisciplinary research directed towards the advancement of multimodal immersive virtual environments with particular focus on haptic interaction. The twelve chapters of the book are grouped around three different scenarios representing different types of interactions in virtual environments: Person-Object (PO), Person-Object-Person (POP) and Person-Person (PP) interaction. Recent results of psychophysical and behavioral studies are reported along with new technological developments for haptic displays and novel haptic rendering techniques.

Haptics technology is being used more and more in different applications, such as in computer games for increased immersion, in surgical simulators to create a realistic environment for training of surgeons, in surgical robotics due to safety issues and in mobile phones to provide feedback from user action. The existence of these applications highlights a clear need to understand performance metrics for haptic interfaces and their implications on device design, use and application. Performance Metrics for Haptic Interfaces aims at meeting this need by establishing standard practices for the evaluation of haptic interfaces and by identifying significant performance metrics.Towards this end, a combined physical and psychophysical experimental methodology is presented. Firstly, existing physical performance measures and device characterization techniques are investigated and described in an illustrative way. Secondly, a wide range of human psychophysical experiments are reviewed and the appropriate ones are applied to haptic interactions. The psychophysical experiments are unified as a systematic and complete evaluation method for haptic interfaces. Finally, synthesis of both evaluation methods is discussed.The metrics provided in this state-of-the-art volume will guide readers in evaluating the performance of any haptic interface. The generic methodology will enable researchers to experimentally assess the suitability of a haptic interface for a specific purpose, to characterize and compare devices quantitatively and to identify possible improvement strategies in the design of a system.

Texture accounts for an important part of the realism of simulated experiences, and it is most certainly true during tactile interaction. We usually experience roughness by running our fingers onto the explored surface. The perception of this fine texture is mediated by the vibrations generated by the encounters of the skin and the asperities of the surfaces.Reproduction of Tactual Textures presents factors that contribute to the mechanics of the interaction between a bare finger and a surface with a view to their artificial reproduction. It discusses the recording and reproduction of tactual textures, and analyses a case study of the development of a device able to record the vibratory signal from a fingertip sliding over a textured surface. The same device is then used in a reverse way to render those previously measured signals to the user’s fingertip. These developments open new questions about the biomechanical properties of the skin and their relation to perception. The second half of Reproduction of Tactual Textures focuses on the implication of the dynamic parameters of the skin onto rendering performance, and it concludes with a study on the important features that are present in the vibratory signal and their relation to texture perception.This state-of-the-art volume highlights the importance of the mechanics and biomechanics during the haptic exploration of surfaces and their possible contribution to perception. Collectively, the findings reported are pertinent to many applications, including robotic perception and the design of effective virtual reality systems.

Multi-finger Haptic Interaction presents a panorama of technologies and methods for multi-finger haptic interaction, together with an analysis of the benefits and implications of adding multiple-fingers to haptic applications.Research topics covered include:design and control of advanced haptic devices;multi-contact point simulation algorithms;interaction techniques and implications in human perception when interacting with multiple fingers.These multi-disciplinary results are integrated into applications such as medical simulators for training manual skills, simulators for virtual prototyping and precise manipulations in remote environments.Multi-finger Haptic Interaction presents the current and potential applications that can be developed with these systems, and details the systems’ complexity. The research is focused on enhancing haptic interaction by providing multiple contact points to the user.This state-of-the-art volume is oriented towards researchers who are involved in haptic device design, rendering methods and perception studies, as well as readers from different disciplines who are interested in applying multi-finger haptic technologies and methods to their field of interest.

Haptics technology is being used more and more in different applications, such as in computer games for increased immersion, in surgical simulators to create a realistic environment for training of surgeons, in surgical robotics due to safety issues and in mobile phones to provide feedback from user action. The existence of these applications highlights a clear need to understand performance metrics for haptic interfaces and their implications on device design, use and application. Performance Metrics for Haptic Interfaces aims at meeting this need by establishing standard practices for the evaluation of haptic interfaces and by identifying significant performance metrics.Towards this end, a combined physical and psychophysical experimental methodology is presented. Firstly, existing physical performance measures and device characterization techniques are investigated and described in an illustrative way. Secondly, a wide range of human psychophysical experiments are reviewed and the appropriate ones are applied to haptic interactions. The psychophysical experiments are unified as a systematic and complete evaluation method for haptic interfaces. Finally, synthesis of both evaluation methods is discussed.The metrics provided in this state-of-the-art volume will guide readers in evaluating the performance of any haptic interface. The generic methodology will enable researchers to experimentally assess the suitability of a haptic interface for a specific purpose, to characterize and compare devices quantitatively and to identify possible improvement strategies in the design of a system.

Multi-finger Haptic Interaction presents a panorama of technologies and methods for multi-finger haptic interaction, together with an analysis of the benefits and implications of adding multiple-fingers to haptic applications.Research topics covered include:design and control of advanced haptic devices;multi-contact point simulation algorithms;interaction techniques and implications in human perception when interacting with multiple fingers.These multi-disciplinary results are integrated into applications such as medical simulators for training manual skills, simulators for virtual prototyping and precise manipulations in remote environments.Multi-finger Haptic Interaction presents the current and potential applications that can be developed with these systems, and details the systems’ complexity. The research is focused on enhancing haptic interaction by providing multiple contact points to the user.This state-of-the-art volume is oriented towards researchers who are involved in haptic device design, rendering methods and perception studies, as well as readers from different disciplines who are interested in applying multi-finger haptic technologies and methods to their field of interest.

Immersive Multimodal Interactive Presence presents advanced interdisciplinary approaches that connect psychophysical and behavioral haptics research with advances in haptic technology and haptic rendering. It delivers a summary of the results achieved in the IMMERSENCE European project and includes selected chapters by international researchers. Organized into two parts: I. Psychophysical and Behavioral Basis and II. Technology and Rendering, it is an excellent example of interdisciplinary research directed towards the advancement of multimodal immersive virtual environments with particular focus on haptic interaction. The twelve chapters of the book are grouped around three different scenarios representing different types of interactions in virtual environments: Person-Object (PO), Person-Object-Person (POP) and Person-Person (PP) interaction. Recent results of psychophysical and behavioral studies are reported along with new technological developments for haptic displays and novel haptic rendering techniques.

Texture accounts for an important part of the realism of simulated experiences, and it is most certainly true during tactile interaction. We usually experience roughness by running our fingers onto the explored surface. The perception of this fine texture is mediated by the vibrations generated by the encounters of the skin and the asperities of the surfaces.Reproduction of Tactual Textures presents factors that contribute to the mechanics of the interaction between a bare finger and a surface with a view to their artificial reproduction. It discusses the recording and reproduction of tactual textures, and analyses a case study of the development of a device able to record the vibratory signal from a fingertip sliding over a textured surface. The same device is then used in a reverse way to render those previously measured signals to the user’s fingertip. These developments open new questions about the biomechanical properties of the skin and their relation to perception. The second half of Reproduction of Tactual Textures focuses on the implication of the dynamic parameters of the skin onto rendering performance, and it concludes with a study on the important features that are present in the vibratory signal and their relation to texture perception.This state-of-the-art volume highlights the importance of the mechanics and biomechanics during the haptic exploration of surfaces and their possible contribution to perception. Collectively, the findings reported are pertinent to many applications, including robotic perception and the design of effective virtual reality systems.

Offers a unique multidisciplinary overview of how humans interact with soft objects and how multiple sensory signals are used to perceive material properties, with an emphasis on object deformability. The authors describe a range of setups that have been employed to study and exploit sensory signals involved in interactions with compliant objects as well as techniques to simulate and modulate softness – including a psychophysical perspective of the field.Multisensory Softness focuses on the cognitive mechanisms underlying the use of multiple sources of information in softness perception. Divided into three sections, the first Perceptual Softness deals with the sensory components and computational requirements of softness perception, the second Sensorimotor Softness looks at the motor components of the interaction with soft objects and the final part Artificial Softness focuses on the identification of exploitable guidelines to help replicate softness in artificial environments.

Offers a unique multidisciplinary overview of how humans interact with soft objects and how multiple sensory signals are used to perceive material properties, with an emphasis on object deformability. The authors describe a range of setups that have been employed to study and exploit sensory signals involved in interactions with compliant objects as well as techniques to simulate and modulate softness – including a psychophysical perspective of the field.Multisensory Softness focuses on the cognitive mechanisms underlying the use of multiple sources of information in softness perception. Divided into three sections, the first Perceptual Softness deals with the sensory components and computational requirements of softness perception, the second Sensorimotor Softness looks at the motor components of the interaction with soft objects and the final part Artificial Softness focuses on the identification of exploitable guidelines to help replicate softness in artificial environments.

This open access book offers an original interdisciplinary overview of the role of haptic feedback in musical interaction. Divided into two parts, part I examines the tactile aspects of music performance and perception, discussing how they affect user experience and performance in terms of usability, functionality and perceived quality of musical instruments. Part II presents engineering, computational, and design approaches and guidelines that have been applied to render and exploit haptic feedback in digital musical interfaces. Musical Haptics  introduces an emerging field that brings together engineering, human-computer interaction, applied psychology, musical aesthetics, and music performance. The latter, defined as the complex system of sensory-motor interactions between musicians and their instruments, presents a well-defined framework in which to study basic psychophysical, perceptual, and biomechanical aspects of touch, all of which will inform the design of haptic musical interfaces. Tactile and proprioceptive cues enable embodied interaction and inform sophisticated control strategies that allow skilled musicians to achieve high performance and expressivity. The use of haptic feedback in digital musical interfaces is expected to enhance user experience and performance, improve accessibility for disabled persons, and provide an effective means for musical tuition and guidance.

This monograph presents a vision for haptic personalization tools and lays the foundations for achieving it. Effective haptic personalization requires a suite of tools unified by one underlying conceptual model that can easily be incorporated into users’ workflows with various applications. Toward this vision, the book introduces three mechanisms for haptic personalization and details development of two of them into: 1) an efficient interface for choosing from a large haptic library, and 2) three emotion controls for adjusting haptic signals. A series of quantitative experiments identifies five schemas (engineering, sensation, emotion, metaphor, and usage examples) for how end-users think and talk about haptic sensations and characterizes them as the underlying model for the personalization tools. Personalizing Haptics highlights the need for scalable haptic evaluation methodologies and presents two methodologies for large-scale in-lab evaluation and online crowdsourcing of haptics. While the work focuses on vibrotactile signals as the most mature and accessible type of haptic feedback for end-users, the concepts and findings extend to other categories of haptics.Taking haptics to the crowds will require haptic design practices to go beyond the current one-size-fits-all approach to satisfy users’ diverse perceptual, functional, and hedonic needs reported in the literature. This book provides a starting point for students, researchers, and practitioners in academia or industry who aim to adapt their haptic and multisensory designs to the needs and preferences of a wide audience.

This monograph presents innovative research regarding the body experience of human individuals who are using assistive robotic devices such as wearable robots or teleoperation systems. The focus is set on human-in-the-loop experiments that help to empirically evaluate how users experience devices. Moreover, these experiments allow for further examination of the underlying mechanisms of body experience through extending existing psychological paradigms, e.g., by disentangling tactile feedback from contacts.Besides reporting and discussing psychological examinations, the influence of various aspects of engineering design is investigated, e.g., different implementations of haptic interfaces or robot control. As haptics are of paramount importance in this tight type of human-robot interaction, it is explored with respect to modality as well as temporal and spatial effects.The first part of the book motivates the research topic and gives an in-depth analysis of the experimental requirements. The second and third part present experimental designs and studies of human-robot body experience regarding the upper and lower limbs as well as cognitive models to predict them. The fourth part discusses a multitude of design considerations and provides directions to guide future research on bidirectional human-machine interfaces and non-functional haptic feedback.

This monograph presents innovative research regarding the body experience of human individuals who are using assistive robotic devices such as wearable robots or teleoperation systems. The focus is set on human-in-the-loop experiments that help to empirically evaluate how users experience devices. Moreover, these experiments allow for further examination of the underlying mechanisms of body experience through extending existing psychological paradigms, e.g., by disentangling tactile feedback from contacts.Besides reporting and discussing psychological examinations, the influence of various aspects of engineering design is investigated, e.g., different implementations of haptic interfaces or robot control. As haptics are of paramount importance in this tight type of human-robot interaction, it is explored with respect to modality as well as temporal and spatial effects.The first part of the book motivates the research topic and gives an in-depth analysis of the experimental requirements. The second and third part present experimental designs and studies of human-robot body experience regarding the upper and lower limbs as well as cognitive models to predict them. The fourth part discusses a multitude of design considerations and provides directions to guide future research on bidirectional human-machine interfaces and non-functional haptic feedback.

This book explains the mechanisms underpinning the tactile perception of electrovibration and lays the groundwork for delivering realistic haptic feedback on touchscreens via this method. Effective utilization of electrovibration can only be accomplished by simultaneously investigating both the physical and perceptual aspects of the finger-touchscreen interaction. Towards this goal, present work blends the available knowledge on electromechanical properties of the human finger and human tactile perception with the results of new psychophysical experiments and physical measurements. By following such an approach that combines both theoretical and experimental information, the study proposes new methods and insights on generating realistic haptic effects, such as textures and edges on these displays. Besides, state-of-the-art research on the field is reviewed, and future work is discussed. The presented interdisciplinary methods and insights can interest students, broad communities ofhaptics, neuroscience, engineering, physics, and cognitive sciences, as well as user-interaction experts and product designers from the industry.

This book explains the mechanisms underpinning the tactile perception of electrovibration and lays the groundwork for delivering realistic haptic feedback on touchscreens via this method. Effective utilization of electrovibration can only be accomplished by simultaneously investigating both the physical and perceptual aspects of the finger-touchscreen interaction. Towards this goal, present work blends the available knowledge on electromechanical properties of the human finger and human tactile perception with the results of new psychophysical experiments and physical measurements. By following such an approach that combines both theoretical and experimental information, the study proposes new methods and insights on generating realistic haptic effects, such as textures and edges on these displays. Besides, state-of-the-art research on the field is reviewed, and future work is discussed. The presented interdisciplinary methods and insights can interest students, broad communities ofhaptics, neuroscience, engineering, physics, and cognitive sciences, as well as user-interaction experts and product designers from the industry.

A longstanding goal of haptic engineering is to develop haptic interfaces that can provide realistic sensations of touch. A fundamental step towards this goal is to understand what mechanical tactile signals the hand feels during daily touch interactions. This book reveals the complex patterns of mechanical waves propagating throughout the hand that can be elicited even by simple touch interactions, which helps in expanding existing knowledge of tactile function beyond the region of near skin-object contact and inspires new designs for haptic sensing and feedback technologies.The first part of this book describes new methods for capturing dynamic, spatially distributed tactile signals in the whole hand during natural hand interactions. The second part characterizes these signals and evaluates how well and how efficiently they encode the information of touch, relating to the transmission of mechanical waves in hand tissues. The final part demonstrates how these findingscan be utilized to create novel haptic effects and tactile displays.Tactile Sensing, Information, and Feedback via Wave Propagation provides a unique view of tactile sensing and feedback and will appeal to researchers, engineers, and students who are interested in learning cutting-edge haptic science and technology.

A longstanding goal of haptic engineering is to develop haptic interfaces that can provide realistic sensations of touch. A fundamental step towards this goal is to understand what mechanical tactile signals the hand feels during daily touch interactions. This book reveals the complex patterns of mechanical waves propagating throughout the hand that can be elicited even by simple touch interactions, which helps in expanding existing knowledge of tactile function beyond the region of near skin-object contact and inspires new designs for haptic sensing and feedback technologies.The first part of this book describes new methods for capturing dynamic, spatially distributed tactile signals in the whole hand during natural hand interactions. The second part characterizes these signals and evaluates how well and how efficiently they encode the information of touch, relating to the transmission of mechanical waves in hand tissues. The final part demonstrates how these findingscan be utilized to create novel haptic effects and tactile displays.Tactile Sensing, Information, and Feedback via Wave Propagation provides a unique view of tactile sensing and feedback and will appeal to researchers, engineers, and students who are interested in learning cutting-edge haptic science and technology.

This is an open access book.In this third edition of Engineering Haptic Devices the software part was rewritten from scratch and now includes even more details on tactile and texture interaction modalities. The kinematics section was improved to extend beyond a pure knowledge explanation to a comprehensive guideline on how to actually do and implement haptic kinematic functions. The control section was reworked incorporating some hands-on experience on control implementation on haptic systems. The system, actuator and sensor design chapters were updated to allow easier access to the content.This book is written for students and engineers faced with the development of a task-specific haptic system. Now 14 years after its first edition, it is still a reference for the basics of haptic interaction and existing haptic systems and methods as well as an excellent source of information for technical questions arising in the design process of systems and components. Following a system engineering approach, it is divided into two parts with Part I containing background and reference information as a knowledge basis. Typical application areas of haptic systems and a thorough analysis of haptics as an interaction modality are introduced. The role of users in the design of haptic systems is discussed and relevant design and development stages are outlined. Part II presents all related challenges in the design of haptic systems including general system architecture and control structures, kinematics, actuator principles and all types of sensors you may encounter doing haptic device development. Beside these hardware and mechanical topics, further chapters examine state-of-the-art interfaces to operate the devices, and hardware and software development to push haptic systems to their limits.

This is an open access book.In this third edition of Engineering Haptic Devices the software part was rewritten from scratch and now includes even more details on tactile and texture interaction modalities. The kinematics section was improved to extend beyond a pure knowledge explanation to a comprehensive guideline on how to actually do and implement haptic kinematic functions. The control section was reworked incorporating some hands-on experience on control implementation on haptic systems. The system, actuator and sensor design chapters were updated to allow easier access to the content.This book is written for students and engineers faced with the development of a task-specific haptic system. Now 14 years after its first edition, it is still a reference for the basics of haptic interaction and existing haptic systems and methods as well as an excellent source of information for technical questions arising in the design process of systems and components. Following a system engineering approach, it is divided into two parts with Part I containing background and reference information as a knowledge basis. Typical application areas of haptic systems and a thorough analysis of haptics as an interaction modality are introduced. The role of users in the design of haptic systems is discussed and relevant design and development stages are outlined. Part II presents all related challenges in the design of haptic systems including general system architecture and control structures, kinematics, actuator principles and all types of sensors you may encounter doing haptic device development. Beside these hardware and mechanical topics, further chapters examine state-of-the-art interfaces to operate the devices, and hardware and software development to push haptic systems to their limits.

Humans rely on their sense of touch to perceive subtle movements and micro slippages to manipulate an impressive range of objects. This incredible dexterity relies on fast and unconscious adjustments of the grip force that holds an object strong enough to avoid a catastrophic fall yet gentle enough not to damage it.The Biomechanics of the Tactile Perception of Friction covers how the complex mechanical interaction is perceived by the nervous system to quickly infer the state of the contact for a swift and precise regulation of the grip. The first part focuses on how humans assess friction at the contact initialization and the second part highlights an efficient coding strategy that the nervous system might use to continuously adjust the grip force to keep a constant safety margin before slippage.Taken together, these results reveal how the perception of frictional information is encoded in the deformation of our skin. The findings are useful for designing bio-inspired tactile sensors for robotics or prosthetics and for improving haptic human-machine interactions.

Humans rely on their sense of touch to perceive subtle movements and micro slippages to manipulate an impressive range of objects. This incredible dexterity relies on fast and unconscious adjustments of the grip force that holds an object strong enough to avoid a catastrophic fall yet gentle enough not to damage it.The Biomechanics of the Tactile Perception of Friction covers how the complex mechanical interaction is perceived by the nervous system to quickly infer the state of the contact for a swift and precise regulation of the grip. The first part focuses on how humans assess friction at the contact initialization and the second part highlights an efficient coding strategy that the nervous system might use to continuously adjust the grip force to keep a constant safety margin before slippage.Taken together, these results reveal how the perception of frictional information is encoded in the deformation of our skin. The findings are useful for designing bio-inspired tactile sensors for robotics or prosthetics and for improving haptic human-machine interactions.

This book delves into the application of wearable haptic feedback technology in various contexts, focusing on prosthetics for individuals with upper limb loss and navigation systems for the visually impaired. Central to the book is the development of technologies that address users' needs and demands. It highlights the pivotal role of a user-centred approach in designing and creating novel feedback mechanisms. Beginning with focus groups and experimental campaigns, each chapter introduces innovative haptic devices that are characterized, tested, and refined to consistently meet user requirements. The research culminates in the creation of a fully integrated feedback system within a prosthetic socket. This book provides comprehensive insights into developing practical, user-friendly haptic devices that significantly improve the quality of life for individuals with sensory impairments.

This book delves into the application of wearable haptic feedback technology in various contexts, focusing on prosthetics for individuals with upper limb loss and navigation systems for the visually impaired. Central to the book is the development of technologies that address users' needs and demands. It highlights the pivotal role of a user-centred approach in designing and creating novel feedback mechanisms. Beginning with focus groups and experimental campaigns, each chapter introduces innovative haptic devices that are characterized, tested, and refined to consistently meet user requirements. The research culminates in the creation of a fully integrated feedback system within a prosthetic socket. This book provides comprehensive insights into developing practical, user-friendly haptic devices that significantly improve the quality of life for individuals with sensory impairments.

This unique monograph explores the science and technology of touch, bridging human tactile perception and advanced haptic interfaces. Aimed at researchers and designers in haptics, it shows how understanding skin biomechanics leads to more intuitive haptic systems. Starting with how mechanical signals processed by the skin produce tactile sensations, it emphasizes the importance of skin deformation patterns correlated with psychophysical responses, highlighting individual differences in tactile sensitivity. It presents practical design principles for sensors and actuators that replicate natural touch and discusses system integration using AI models to predict user experiences and adapt haptic feedback to individual needs. Additionally, it explores designing artificial skin that emulates human skin behavior and natural sensory processing. Concluding with future directions, it advocates for human-centered systems offering consistent tactile experiences across user groups to enhance accessibility and usability.Dr. Bingxu Li is Chief Technology Officer at SmartHap, a haptic technology company based in Virginia, USA.  Dr. Tyler Cody is Chief Executive Officer at SmartHap, as well as Associate Professor of Data Science at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, where he serves as Director of the Artificial General Intelligence Lab.