Wearable thermal interface for sharing palm heat conduction

Developing a thermal interface to share a thermal sensation between remote locations can lead to significant progress in the field of haptics. The research focuses on a technique of rendering thermal sensation that is an essential element of the haptics for touching human and machines each other. The thermal technique is required in case of offering a sense of security and sharing a precise hand with thermal sensations between remote places such as nursing care and rehabilitation robot. This paper proposed a method to control heat conduction on a palm by setting virtual thermal conductance between two fingers of the glove. Two thermal gloves are used as a master/slave systems, and the virtual thermal conductance can change heat conduction on the palm. The proposed interface and its control algorithm can be used to share a spatial thermal sensation on a palm. The experimental results indicate the validity of the proposed method. The interface and its control system are expected to connect people in remote locations, and the developed system can potentially be used in medical and multimedia applications.