Research Projects

The rapid development and adoption of virtual and augmented reality headsets highlight the need for haptic feedback devices capable of improving the user experience. The current existing designs are usually very limited in their capabilities and are often cumbersome and heavy. In addition, these devices are generic and do not adapt to the users’ own perception of the object. It is possible that a more human-oriented design process could generate a better device. While current research done on human grasping was aimed at finding common properties within the research population, we investigated the dynamic patterns that makes human grasping patterns distinct rather than generalized. Experiments were conducted on 31 subjects who performed grasping tasks on five different objects. Using finger joint angles and reaction forces with the object as our features, we were able to classify these tasks with over 96% success. In addition, we examined the effects of the objects’ mechanical properties on those patterns and the significance of the different features for the differentiation. Our results show that grasping patterns are, indeed, subject-specific; this, in turn, could suggest that a device capable of providing personalized feedback can improve the user experience.