Substitution of haptic gloves using audio interfaces in robot control

We refer to channels of communication which link the user to various electronic appliances and computers as cognitive communication channels. One especially interesting research topic related to cognitive communication channels deals with a special application called sensory substitution, when information is conveyed through a channel other than the one that is normally used. Besides offering a glimpse of hope to those living with injured sensory organs, sensory substitution can have benefits when designing user interfaces in terms of cost-effectiveness, the reduction of network delays, as well as the prevention of channel overloading. One such application in robot control could be the substitution of haptic feedback gloves (which are costly, bulky and have relatively few vibration states) using parameter-rich audio interfaces. In this paper, we propose the foundations of a framework for user-directed, interactive experimentation with haptic feedback using auditory cognitive communication channels. Within the presented framework, the paper deals with an approach to describe the relationship between physical parameters and coding parameters that can be used to convey control information through auditory cognitive channels.