This research project focuses on delivering haptic guidance through cutaneous (skin stretch and squeeze) methods to help train people for new tasks. Haptic devices are tremendously useful for giving customized feedback during training. These devices can simulate forces associated with real-world tasks or provide guidance forces that help users to complete the task more effectively or accurately. It has been shown, however, that providing both task forces and guidance forces simultaneously through the same haptic interface can lead to confusion and worse performance.

This project investigates human perception of haptic, or touch, cues. In the field of haptics, there is a need for a standardized method to characterize haptic cues and assess human perception of these cues. Most haptic devices are characterized using methods that are unique to the experiment, making direct comparisons across studies challenging.

We are interested in the effect of feedback on the rate and extent of motor skill learning and adaptation.  Our intent is to apply the results of our investigations to the design of a more effective strategy for the rehabilitation of recovering stroke patients.

Our goals in this research project are to determine the significance of performance of inanimate tasks as a marker for robotic proficiency and assess the utility of inanimate task training on robotic skill performance.  We aim to establish standardized tasks for training, define accurate metrics for performance, and assess motor skill acquisition in virtual and real environments.

Robot-assisted surgery offers distinct advantages and is rapidly being applied to a diverse range of surgical procedures.  However, teleoperation inherently decouples the surgeon from the patient.  While robotic-assistance permits a more natural, intuitive interface in comparison to standard laparoscopy, there is still a significant learning curve in mastering the technique.  In addition, the advantages of the robotic system are further limited by the lack of tactile and kinesthetic information transmitted to the surgeon.  Given this lack of sensory feedback, more emphasis is placed on interpreting visual cues and understanding robotic movement during performance.