Zhan Fan Quek

Contact Information

Zhan Fan Quek
Graduate Student
Mechanical Engineering Dept.
Stanford University

Collaborative Haptics in Robotics and Medicine (CHARM) Laboratory
424 Panama Mall, Bldg. 560
Stanford, CA 94305
zfquek@stanford.edu

Education

B.S. in Mechanical Engineering (with Honors)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
May 2009

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Stanford University
June 2012

Research

Medical Robotics, Tactile Haptic Devices, Teleoperation Systems

Skin Stretch Feedback for Teleoperation Systems



Despite improving user task performance in some teleoperated tasks, haptic feedback is not incorporated in clinical surgical robotic systems due to stability and safety concerns. Researchers have attempted to convey this force information through other sensory channels in a technique called Sensory Substitution. We attempted to convey this force information through a manner termed "Fingerpad skin deformation feedback". During everyday manipulation tasks, skin deformation feedback is present and contributes to the perception of interaction forces. We hypothesize that skin deformation feedback could be a more intuitive feedback modality to substitute or augment force feedback compared to other current sensory substitution methods such as vision and audio feedback.



We built a series of skin deformation tactile haptic devices, ranging from 1-Degree-of-Freedom (DoF) tangential skin stretch device to 3-DoF tangential and normal skin deformation feedback device. These devices are used in conjunction with traditional force-feedback haptic devices to perform experiments related to sensory substitution and augmentation.

Skin Stretch Feedback For Sensory Substitution
Using the 1-DoF skin stretch device, we characterize users' ability to discriminate between surfaces of different stiffness using skin stretch feedback through a series of psychophysical experiments and compare their performance against that obtained using force feedback. Our result show that there is no significant difference between the Weber Fraction for stiffness discrimination when using skin stretch feedback and when using force feedback. This result indicate that in terms of stiffness discrimination, skin stretch feedback is a viable alternative to force feedback.

Using the 3-DoF skin deformation device, we performed an experiment in which participants have to locate a feature in a 3-DoF virtual environment using 3-DoF tactile feedback and 1-DoF tactile feedback provided by our device for force-feedback sensory substitution. Our result showed that participants are able to locate the feature more accurately and to do it more quickly using 3-DoF tactile feedback compared to 1-DoF tactile feedback. This result showed that the 3-DoF skin deformation tactile feedback provides additional information that participants can use to improve their task performance.

Skin Stretch Feedback For Sensory Augmentation
Using a series of psychophysical experiments, we found that when force feedback is augmented with skin stretch feedback, there is a shift in the perceived stiffness reported by the user. In addition, this shift in stiffness perception increases as a larger skin stretch to force ratio is used. This result show that skin stretch feedback can be coupled with force feedback to increase the maximum environment stiffness that can be rendered to the user while maintaining stability of the system.

Publications

Conference Proceedings

  1. Z.F. Quek, S.B. Schorr, I. Nisky, W.R. Provancher, A.M. Okamura, "Sensory Substitution of Force and Torque using 6-Degrees-of-Freedom Tangential and Normal Skin Deformation Feedback", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Accepted
  2. I. Nisky, Y. Che, Z.F. Quek, M. Weber, M. Hsieh, A.M.Okamura, "Teleoperated versus open needle driving: Kinematic analysis of experienced surgeons and novice users", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Accepted
  3. S.B. Schorr, Z.F. Quek, I. Nisky, W.R. Provancher, A.M. Okamura, "Environment perception in the presence of kinesthetic or tactile guidance virtual fixtures", ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Accepted
  4. Z.F. Quek, S.B. Schorr, I. Nisky, W.R. Provancher, A.M. Okamura, "Sensory Substitution using 3-Degrees-of-Freedom Tangential and Normal Skin Deformation Feedback", IEEE Haptic Symposium, pp. 27-33, 2014 (Best Student Paper Award)
  5. T. L. Gibo, D. R. Deo, Z. F. Quek, and A. M. Okamura, "Effect of load force feedback on grip force control during teleoperation: A preliminary study", IEEE Haptics Symposium, pp. 379-383, 2014.
  6. Z.F. Quek, S.B. Schorr, I. Nisky, A. M. Okamura, and W. R. Provancher, "Sensory Augmentation of Stiffness using Fingerpad Skin Stretch", IEEE World Haptics, pp. 467-472, 2013.
  7. S.B. Schorr, Z.F. Quek, I. Nisky, W.R. Provancher, A.M. Okamura, "Sensory Substitution via Cutaneous Skin Stretch Feedback", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp.2341,2346, 2013.
  8. S.C. Ryu, Z.F. Quek, P. Renault, R. J. Black, B. L. Daniel, and M.R. Cutkosky, "An Optical Actuation System and Curvature Sensor for a MR-Compatible Active Needle", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 1589-1594, 2012.
  9. S. Phan, Z.F. Quek, P. Shah, D. Shin, A. Zubeir, and O. Khatib, "Capacitive Skin Sensors for Robot Impact Monitoring", IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 2992-2997, 2011.
  10. D. Shin, Z.F. Quek, S. Phan, M.R. Cutkosky, and O. Khatib, "Instantaneous Stiffness Effects on Impact Forces in Human Friendly Robots", IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 2998-3003, 2011.

Conference Demo

  1. Sensory Substitution using 3-Degrees-of-Freedom Tangential and Normal Skin Deformation Feedback. IEEE Haptic Symposium 2014 (Nominated for Best Demo Award)
  2. Augmentation of Force Feedback with Skin Stretch to Enhance Stiffness Perception. IEEE World Haptics 2013.
  3. HAPI Bands: A Haptic Augmented Posture Interface. IEEE Haptics Symposium 2012.

Journal Articles

  1. Z.F. Quek, S.B. Schorr, I. Nisky, A.M. Okamura, W.R. Provancher, "Sensory Substitution and Augmentation using 3-Degrees-of-Freedom Skin Deformation Feedback", IEEE Transactions on Haptics, Accepted.
  2. Z.F. Quek, S.B. Schorr, I. Nisky, A.M. Okamura, W.R. Provancher, "Augmenting Stiffness Perception using a 1-DoF skin stretch device", IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems, vol.44, no.6, pp.731,742, Dec. 2014.
  3. S.C Ryu, Z.F. Quek, J.S. Koh, P. Renaud, R.J. Black, B. Moslehi, B. Daniel, K.Y. Cho, M.R. Cutkosky, "Design of an Optically Controlled MR-compatible Active Needle", IEEE Transactions on Robotics, accepted