Haptic recognition system with sensory integration and attentional perception

The authors constructed a haptic recognition system which discriminates feel of touch based on the principles of sensory integration and attentional perception. The system is equipped with several sensors and can push and rub the object´s surface with several values of force and speed. It integrates the sensory information iteratively by selecting appropriate sensors and measurement conditions according to the proceeding of the recognition. The algorithms of sensory integration and of attentional perception are realized by Bayes inference and by an iterative experimental design based on an information criterion, respectively. The experimental result shows that the system can discern a subtle difference in feel of touch. It is also proved that the system selects appropriate sensors and conditions according to the situation, that is, the attentional perception algorithm realizes good recognition accuracy with fewer observations. In addition, it is shown that the characteristics used in the system correspond well to those human beings utilize in haptic perception. These results suggest that the constructed system is a faithful model for the human haptic mechanism