Table Of ContentSpringer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems
Laurence Willemet
The Biomechanics
of the Tactile
Perception
of Friction
Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems
SeriesEditors
ManuelFerre,UniversidadPolitécnicadeMadrid,Madrid,Spain
MarcErnst,UlmUniversity,Ulm,Germany
AlanWing,UniversityofBirmingham,Birmingham,UK
EditorialBoard
CarloA.Avizzano,ScuolaSuperioreSant’Anna,Pisa,Italy
MassimoBergamasco,ScuolaSuperioreSant’Anna,Pisa,Italy
AntonioBicchi,UniversityofPisa,Pisa,Italy
JanvanErp,UniversityofTwente,Enschede,TheNetherlands
MatthiasHarders,UniversityofInnsbruck,Innsbruck,Austria
WilliamS.Harwin,UniversityofReading,Reading,UK
VincentHayward,SorbonneUniversité,Paris,France
JuanM.Ibarra,Cinvestav,MexicoCity,Mexico
AstridM.L.Kappers,EindhovenUniversityofTechnology,Eindhoven,The
Netherlands
MiguelA.Otaduy,UniversidadReyJuanCarlos,Madrid,Spain
AngelikaPeer,LiberaUniversitàdiBolzano,Bolzano,Italy
JeromePerret,Haption,Soulgé-sur-Ouette,France
DomenicoPrattichizzo,UniversityofSiena,Siena,Italy
Jee-HwanRyu,KoreaAdvancedInstituteofScienceandTechnology,Daejeon,
Korea(Republicof)
Jean-LouisThonnard,UniversitéCatholiquedeLouvain,
Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve,Belgium
YoshihiroTanaka,NagoyaInstituteofTechnology,Nagoya,Japan
DangxiaoWang,BeihangUniversity,Beijing,China
YuruZhang,BeihangUniversity,Beijing,China
TheSpringerSeriesonTouchandHapticSystemsispublishedincollaborationwith
theEuroHapticsSociety.Itisfocusedonpublishingnewadvancesanddevelopments
inallaspectsofhaptics.Hapticsisamulti-disciplinaryfieldwithresearchersfrom
Psychology,Physiology,Neurology,Engineering,andComputerScience(amongst
others)contributingtoabetterunderstandingofthesenseoftouch,andresearching
intohowtoimproveandreproduceHapticinteractionartificiallyinordertosimulate
real scenarios. The series includes monographs focused on specific topics, edited
volumescoveringgeneraltopicsfromdifferentperspectives,andselectedPhDtheses.
BooksinthisseriesfocusonHapticsorHapticinterfacesincluding:
(cid:129)
Neuroscience
(cid:129)
Perception&Psychophysics
(cid:129)
HapticRendering
(cid:129)
DevicesandTechnology
(cid:129)
Medical&RehabilitationApplications
(cid:129)
Art&DesignApplications
(cid:129)
CollaborativeHaptics
(cid:129)
MutimodalInteraction
(cid:129)
TactileDisplay&Tactiles
(cid:129)
Sensing
(cid:129)
HapticHCI(Interaction,Visualization)
Laurence Willemet
The Biomechanics
of the Tactile Perception
of Friction
LaurenceWillemet
DepartmentofCognitiveRobotics
DelftUniversityofTechnology
Delft,TheNetherlands
ISSN 2192-2977 ISSN 2192-2985 (electronic)
SpringerSeriesonTouchandHapticSystems
ISBN 978-3-031-16052-3 ISBN 978-3-031-16053-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16053-0
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNature
SwitzerlandAG2022
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsaresolelyandexclusivelylicensedbythePublisher,whether
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Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland
Tomymum,whotaughtmehowtoseethe
rainbowinlife
Series Editors’ Foreword
Thisisthetwenty-firstvolumeof“SpringerSeriesonTouchandHapticSystems,”
publishedasacollaborationbetweenSpringerandtheEuroHapticsSociety.
TheBiomechanicsoftheTactilePerceptionofFrictionprovidesadetailedexposi-
tionoftactileinteractionwithaparticularfocusontheroleoffrictionwhengrasping
andmanipulatingobjects.Physicsandengineeringconceptsarecombinedtoexplain
howfingerforcesareadaptedtoperformobjectmanipulation.Crucialistheroleof
friction and a new theory of the perception of friction based on spatial-temporal
deformationoftheskinisadvanced whichrepresentsanimportantcontributionto
thefieldofhaptics.
This volume will be of interest to researchers and designers interested in touch
for perception and action, whether approaching the topic from the perspective of
neuroscience,psychology,psychophysics,engineering,robotics,orprosthetics.Its
clearlywrittentextwillappealbothtoexpertsseekingup-datesandnovelinsights
intomechanismsoftouchformanipulationandtoadvancedstudents,forwhomthe
interdisciplinaryperspectiveislikelytohaveaparticularappeal.
ThisbookoriginatesfromthethesisofDr.LaurenceWillemet,whoreceivedthe
EuroHaptics award for the Best Ph.D. Thesis in 2021. This award recognizes the
contributionofthisworkinthefieldofhaptics.
Madrid,Spain ManuelFerre
Ulm,Germany MarcErnst
Birmingham,UK AlanWing
September2022
vii
Preface
Whenmanipulatingobjects,humansrelyontheirsenseoftouchtoperceivesubtle
movements and micro slippages. This synergy between sensations and motion
permitsthemtomanipulateanimpressiverangeofobjectsofdifferentsizes,shapes,
andsurfaceproperties.Thisincredibledexterityreliesonfastandunconsciousadjust-
mentsofthegripforcebyplacinga20%safetymarginbeforeslippingthatholdsan
objectstrongenoughtoavoidacatastrophicfallyetgentleenoughnottodamageit.
Inadditiontobeingaccurate,thisregulationisswift:Onlyahundredmilliseconds
afterfirstmakingcontact,gripforcesarealreadyadjustedbytakingintoaccountthe
actualfrictionalstrengthofthecontact.Thisastonishingperformanceisowedtothe
senseoftouch,whichinformsonthephysicalpropertiesofthesurroundingworld
andcontact state.Withinthefingertip,thousands of mechanoreceptors convert the
complexmechanicalinteractionintoactionpotentials.However,howthebraincopes
withlargeamountsofdatatoinferthestateofthecontactisstilldebated.
Thisbookcovershowthecutaneoustactileafferentmadeitpossibleforaswift
and precise regulation of the grip. Firstly, I show that humans can assess friction
without slippage, suggesting thatthe radial stretch of the skin can provide enough
information to regulate grip at the contact initialization. Secondly, I show that the
perceptualsystemusesacompactcodetoestimatethesafetymarginfromtheskin
deformation during an incipient slip, suggesting a mechanism to explain the rapid
reactions.Finally,Iexposeanewmodelbasedoncontactmechanicstoquantifythe
sensitivityofthemechanoreceptorstothepatternsofskindeformationhighlighted
inthefirsttwochapters.Thismodelalsocorrelatesthespatialandtemporaldetection
thresholdtodetectamovingstimulus,suggestingapersistenceoftouchthatbridges
discretesensationsintoacontinuousstimulus.
Takentogether,theseresultsrevealhowtheperceptionoffrictionisencodedinthe
spatio-temporaldeformationoftheskin.Thefindingsareusefulfordesigningbio-
inspiredtactilesensorsforroboticsorprostheticsandforimprovinghaptichuman-
machineinteractions.
Delft,TheNetherlands LaurenceWillemet
ix
Acknowledgements
This book has been produced based on my Ph.D. thesis and I wish to express my
sincere gratitude to my colleagues and mentors, and my family and friends who
inspiredmeandhelpedmeduringthiswork.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Michaël Wiertlewski, for
allowingmetogrowupasaresearcher.Hispassionandenthusiasmwerecontagious
andagreatfactorofmotivationforme.Iwouldalsoliketothankhimforhisdaily
curiosity.MygratitudealsogoestoBrunoCochelin,forhisgoodwillandrigor,which
contributestoraisethisworktothehighestlevel.
Mostoftheworkpresentedinthisbookisateamworkandwouldnothavebeen
accomplished without the contributions and enticing discussions with my collab-
orators: Ingvars Birznieks, Benoît Delhaye, Xi Lin, Khoubeib Kanzari, Jocelyn
Monnoyer,NicolasHuloux,andAlessandroMoscatelli.Theywereanendlesssource
ofmotivationformyworkandIfeelhonoredtohavetheopportunitytoworktogether.
ThroughthePh.D.,Ialsoenjoyedthecompanyofcheerleadingcolleaguesfrom
the Biorobotics team of the Institute of Movement Science in Marseille in France
andfromtheCognitiveRoboticsDepartmentofTUDelft:CorentinBernard,Aimie
Berger,StéphaneViolet,BeccaFriesen,YaseminVardar,Dirk-JanBoonstra.
Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest thank to my family and
friendsfortheirunwaveringsupportandforsharingjoybutalsotearsandfrustration.
Noémie,Camille,Julien,Sélène,andNilay,thankyouforbeingaearwhenIneeded
to talk, a shoulder when I needed to cry and especially a well of smiles and laugh
inallthe other times.Final words gotomysisterwho walks next tomeinallthe
hardships of life, my dad who always supported me to follow my dreams and my
momwhotaughtmetonevergiveup.
This research was sponsored by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche
(ANRPhase).
xi
Contents
1 Introduction ................................................... 1
1.1 Motivations ................................................ 1
1.2 Overview .................................................. 3
References ..................................................... 4
2 StateoftheArt ................................................. 5
2.1 HowDoHumansInteract:Bio-TribologyofSkin ............... 5
2.1.1 FingerAnatomy ..................................... 6
2.1.2 MechanicalPropertiesofSkin ......................... 8
2.1.3 FrictionalPropertiesoftheSkin ........................ 11
2.1.4 MechanicalModelsofSkinTissue ..................... 15
2.2 How Do Humans Encode the Mechanical Deformation:
Mechanotransduction ....................................... 20
2.2.1 FourTypesofAfferents ............................... 20
2.2.2 Summary ........................................... 22
2.3 HowDoHumansPerceive ................................... 23
2.3.1 TactileSensitivity .................................... 23
2.3.2 SlipDetection ....................................... 29
2.3.3 FrictionPerception ................................... 30
2.4 HowDoHumansManipulate:HumanHand’sAction ............ 31
2.4.1 ActionandPerception ................................ 31
2.4.2 GripForceControl ................................... 32
2.4.3 PassiveVersusActiveSensing ......................... 33
2.4.4 PredictiveCoding .................................... 34
2.5 Conclusion ................................................ 34
References ..................................................... 35
3 MechanicalModelofSkinDeformation .......................... 43
3.1 Introduction ............................................... 43
3.2 Finite-DifferenceMechanicalModel .......................... 44
xiii
