In this talk, Dr. Provancher will chart out the path that has led him to his current research which utilizes skin stretch to communicate direction cues by applying lateral skin stretch at the tip of a finger.
During his Ph.D. research, Dr. Provancher innovated a new form of tactile feedback termed contact location feedback. This form of feedback reduces the complex set of contact information that we would sense with our hands to simply a point representing the centroid of contact. It is analogous to representing a contact with a ball bearing rolling over one's fingertip (see top image in Figure).
Dr. Provancher’s contact location feedback device has also been used to study the perception of friction. Here, the roller on the device is replaced with a rubber coated shear block so that skin stretch would be applied to the user's skin when the device is moved rather than displaying the current contact location. Dr. Provancher’s study used realistic skin stretch presented in combination with friction force feedback. His study showed that skin stretch as small as 0.25 mm led to a measureable increase in perceived friction magnitude. It was this result that led Dr. Provancher to the hypothesis that extremely small amounts of skin stretch could be a powerful means for communicating other cues, such as direction.
Haptic guidance and the study of shear feedback to provide direction cues is a major component of Dr. Provancher's NSF CAREER grant. His lab has already begun initial perceptual studies to better understand how best to communicate direction via lateral skin stretch. Initial pilot studies with human subjects have explored a variety of variables for communicating direction and have revealed the complexity of this problem. In the remainder of this talk, Dr. Provancher will discuss the variables for communicating direction via lateral skin stretch that were examined along with the results and implications of these initial user studies.
Dr. William R. Provancher holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Materials Science and Engineering, both from the University of Michigan. His PhD, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, was in the area of haptics, tactile sensing, and feedback. His postdoctoral research involved investigating and designing bioinspired climbing robots, focusing on creating foot designs for climbing vertical surfaces with compliantly supported spines. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah. Prof. Provancher teaches courses in the areas of mechanical design, mechatronics, and haptics. His active areas of research include haptics, tactile sensing and feedback, and the design of novel climbing robots.