SORI
Softness is a fundamental sensory quality that plays a critical role in the survival and well-being of animals, including humans, by influencing behaviors such as food selection, exploration, and social interaction. Despite its importance, the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying the perception of softness remain incompletely understood. The somatosensory system combines cutaneous and kinesthetic cues such as contact area, force, and depth to create a sense of softness, but existing haptic technologies often fail to provide a realistic representation due to the coupling of these factors. To address this gap, we present the Softness Rendering Interface (SORI), a novel haptic display that decouples contact area and force, allowing for a more accurate and quantitative reproduction of softness sensations. SORI adapts to individual fingertip characteristics and utilizes model-based softness cue estimation, enabling a highly personalized experience that renders both virtual and real-world objects. This research represents an advancement in haptic technology, opening up new possibilities in fields such as teleoperation and medical engineering, while providing deeper insights into the psychological and neural underpinnings of softness perception.
