Measurement of human response to tactile temperature sensing using stochastic system identification

Tactile response is limited for many operations that are preformed in extreme environments due to bulky equipment or the limitations of the human body. In order to allow a user in extreme environments to regain some of their temperature-tactile response, a glove was developed that converts temperature into a vibration felt by the user. An RTD was attached to the glove and connected to a microcontroller. This microcontroller converted temperature into a voltage and transmitted it to a micromotor that controlled the vibration felt by the user. Through this scheme, the user was able to identify a temperature increase with a 4 s delay. This paper also presents the system response of the glove to a temperature impulse. Using this system transfer function, it is possible to make improvements to the glove to reduce the overall delay between the glove sensing a temperature and the user recognizing the temperature change.