Thermal Feedback System From Robot Hand for Telepresence

In this study, we propose a thermal feedback system using a flexible thermal display glove (master part) and a robot hand (slave part) for telepresence. A piezoelectric sensor in the glove detects the posture of the user, which is required to operate the robot hand, while the robot hand monitors the temperature change of a grasped object and transfers the temperature feedback through thermoelectric devices mounted on the glove. Specifically, we utilize a controller to manage the thermal feedback system. Further, a series of experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the thermal feedback control system under heating and cooling conditions, and the responses at various desired temperatures are examined. The maximum temperature error and standard deviation under the steady-state conditions of the control system are studied. The power consumption during the response time and holding time is calculated and analyzed. Furthermore, the operation of the integrated thermal feedback system is demonstrated, and the performance of the controlled system is evaluated.