Investigation of Rotational Skin Stretch for Proprioceptive Feedback With Application to Myoelectric Systems

We present a new wearable haptic device that provides a sense of position and motion by inducing rotational skin stretch on the user's skin. In the experiments described in this paper, the device was used to provide proprioceptive feedback from a virtual prosthetic arm controlled with myoelectric sensors on the bicep and tricep muscles in 15 able-bodied participants. Targeting errors in blind movements with the haptic device were compared to cases where no feedback and contralateral proprioception were provided. Average errors were lower with the device than with no feedback but larger than with contralateral proprioceptive feedback. Participants also had lower visual demand with the device than with no feedback while tracking a 30 moving range. The results indicate that the rotational skin stretch may ultimately be effective for proprioceptive feedback in myoelectric prostheses, particularly when vision is otherwise occupied.