Perceptual Rendering for Learning Haptic Skills

We approach the problem of creating haptic simulators that effectively impart skill without requiring high-fidelity devices by identifying perceptually salient events that signal transitions in the interaction. By augmenting these events, we seek to overcome deficiencies in the fidelity of the rendering hardware. We present an extension of event-based haptic rendering to non- collision events, and we describe a user-study of the training effectiveness of passive force-field haptic simulation vs. active event- augmented simulation in a tool-manipulation task. The results indicate that active augmentation improves skill transfer without requiring an increase in the quality of the rendering device.