During my time in LIMS, my studies included the following:
| Study of using haptic communications to control user behavior during a manual control task. This was my master's thesis work. In this study, I modified a commercial stair
climber by removing the internal mechanisms and replacing them with a large motor. This computer-controlled motor then allowed me to control the interaction between the machine
and its user. I also added small vibratio motors to the pedals as a second method of haptically communicating with the user. In the study, subjects were asked to step
on the stair climber at a workout pace as consistently as possible. I measured the consistency of the stepping pace and then asked the subject to simultaneously play a video game while
continuing at the same consistent pace. For part of the time the subject was doing this, I provided a haptic communication that was intended to help the subject
maintain the stepping pace. I could then compare whether or not the haptic communication was successful at assisting the subject in the stepping task.
This study is published in my thesis and in a paper for the RO-MAN 2007 conference on Jeju Island, Korea.
You can read more about this project on the Haptic Stair Climber project page.
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| Study of the feasibility of using compliance variance instead of height variance in a tactile display.
In this study, we recorded the amount of time it took subjects to determine what shape was being presented on a tactile display using compliance
and compared this to the amount of time it took subjects to determine the shape on a tactile display using height. We found that, although it took subjects more time
to determine the shape on the compliance varying display, the additional time does not, in our opinion, preclude the use of compliance in a tactile display.
This study was published at the World Haptics Conference 2007 in Tsukuba, Japan.
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| Study of the damping functionality of an alternator. Check out the Alternator Overview.
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| Design and construction of a finger exoskeleton. This was completed for the Advanced Mechatronics course.
You can see more of the project here.
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Publications
- A. R. Ferber, M. Peshkin, J. E. Colgate. "Using Haptic Communications with the Leg to Maintain Exercise Intensity." 16th IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN '07). 2007. PDF
- A. R. Ferber. "Affecting exercise intensity through haptic communications." Master's thesis. Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 2007. PDF
- M. A. Taylor, A. R. Ferber, J. E. Colgate. "Assessing the Efficacy of Variable Compliance Tactile Displays." Second Joint EuroHaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems (WHC'07). pp. 427-432. 2007. PDF
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