In this work we investigate how sensory feedback in teleoperation of robotic hands can be enhanced by the addition of cutaneous haptic feedback to the conventional kineasthetic force feedback. Actuated gloves and hand exoskeletons convey kineast- hetic force feedback at fingertips by grounding forces to the hand dorsum. These devices usually rely on compact actuators with a transmission and reduction stage in order to output the relatively high output forces required for rendering the contact forces and grasping strength. Such configuration however severely limits the bandwidth of the haptic device, whereas fingerpad are rich of mechano-recpetors sensitive to high frequency stimuli and fast transients. In this work we aim to develop and investigate a hand exoskeleton device capable of delivering at the same time both kineasthetic force feedback and wide bandwidth cutaneous feedback. The designed device integrates high-output force linear motors, actuating the main exoskeleton kinematics, plus compact and wearable wide-bandwidth actuators mounted in series to the last link of the exoskeleton, in contact with the fingerpads. The proposed device has been developed in a prototype and experimented in preliminary grasping experiments.

https://youtu.be/TGq4ylhY5Hc