A wearable armband “iFeel” for electrotactile stimulation

Abstract

Electroactile feedback is crucial to close the loop systems of the teleoperation system, virtual reality system, and prosthetic system. Feedback devices are always limited in application due to large size for their inconvenience. In the present study, a wearable armband named “iFeel” is developed, which includes five pairs of electrodes for electrotactile stimulation is introduced for feedback to close the loop in the systems above. The armband also includes a custom-designed stimulator for generating pulses. The stimulator consists of power module, voltage converting module, Bluetooth module, the microcontroller Unit, constant-current power supply module and multiplexing module. Two experiments including position discrimination and frequency discrimination are conducted to validate the armband. We use the success rate to evaluate feasibility of armband. Our preliminary results show a high accuracy of position discrimination (success rate > 90%) and frequency levels discrimination (success rate > 90%). The sensory substitute feedback has the potential to be applied for feedback to achieve more information with high resolution and accuracy after minimal training.