Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.3
2.6
Journals
Electronics
Special Issues
Haptic Systems and the Tactile Internet: Design and Applications
share announcement

Haptic Systems and the Tactile Internet: Design and Applications

A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer Science & Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2025 | Viewed by 4232

Special Issue Editors

Dr. George Kokkonis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Information and Electronic Engineering, International Hellenic University, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: haptics; computer networks; IoT
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Konstantinos E. Psannis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: Internet of Things (IoT); artificial intelligence (AI); haptic communications; QoS control; big data analysis; cloud computing; digital twins
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sotirios Kontogiannis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
MicroComputer Systems Laboratory Team, Department of Mathematics, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Interests: computer networks; haptics; IoT; telecommunications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue on "Haptic Systems and the Tactile Internet: Design and Applications" aims to explore the latest advancements and innovative approaches in the field of haptic systems and the Tactile Internet. This Special Issue seeks to address various aspects of haptic technology and the Tactile Internet, including design methodologies, sensor technologies, communication protocols, and application scenarios. It aims to provide a platform for researchers, engineers, and practitioners to exchange ideas, share insights, and discuss emerging trends in the design, implementation, and utilization of haptic systems and the Tactile Internet. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: haptics in virtual reality, augmented reality, healthcare applications, gaming, rehabilitation, human–computer interaction, assistive technology, haptics for visually impaired people, haptics for people with fine motor problems, haptics for education and training, haptic interaction design guidelines, haptic interfaces for accessibility, haptic communication and teleoperation, haptic perception and psychophysics, haptic feedback in human–computer interactions, wearable haptic devices, and haptic rendering algorithms. Through this Special Issue, we aim to advance the state-of-the-art in haptic systems and pave the way for their widespread adoption across various domains.

Dr. George Kokkonis
Prof. Dr. Konstantinos E. Psannis
Dr. Sotirios Kontogiannis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • haptics
  • human–computer interaction
  • tactile internet
  • haptic feedback
  • tangible interfaces
  • haptic interfaces
  • virtual reality

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 1942 KiB  
Article
Operator Expertise in Bilateral Teleoperation: Performance, Manipulation, and Gaze Metrics
by Harun Tugal, Ihsan Tugal, Fumiaki Abe, Masaki Sakamoto, Shu Shirai, Ipek Caliskanelli and Robert Skilton
Electronics 2025, 14(10), 1923; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14101923 - 9 May 2025
Viewed by 239
Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive user study aimed as assessing and differentiating operator expertise within bilateral teleoperation systems. The primary objective is to identify key performance metrics that effectively distinguish novice from expert users. Unlike prior approaches that focus primarily on psychological evaluations, [...] Read more.
This paper presents a comprehensive user study aimed as assessing and differentiating operator expertise within bilateral teleoperation systems. The primary objective is to identify key performance metrics that effectively distinguish novice from expert users. Unlike prior approaches that focus primarily on psychological evaluations, this study emphasizes direct performance analysis across a range of telerobotic tasks. Ten participants (six novices and four experts) were assessed based on task completion time and difficulty, error rates, manipulator motion characteristics, gaze behaviour, and subjective feedback via questionnaires. The results show that experienced operators outperformed novices by completing tasks faster, making fewer errors, and demonstrating smoother manipulator control, as reflected by reduced jerks and higher spatial precision. Also, experts maintained consistent performance even as task complexity increased, whereas novices experienced a sharp decline, particularly at higher difficulty levels. Questionnaire responses further revealed that novices experienced higher mental and physical demands, especially in unfamiliar tasks, while experts demonstrated higher concentration and arousal levels. Additionally, the study introduces gaze transition entropy (GTE) and stationary gaze entropy (SGE) metrics to quantify visual attention strategies, with experts exhibiting more focused, goal-oriented gaze patterns, while novices showed more erratic and inefficient behaviour. These findings highlight both quantitative and qualitative measures as critical for evaluating operator performance and informing future teleoperation training programs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Haptic Systems and the Tactile Internet: Design and Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 21667 KiB  
Article
MateREAL Touch: Handheld Haptic Texture Display with Real Rolling Materials
by Katsuya Maezono, Hikaru Nagano, Yuichi Tazaki and Yasuyoshi Yokokohji
Electronics 2025, 14(7), 1250; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14071250 - 21 Mar 2025
Viewed by 274
Abstract
This paper presents the development of “MateREAL Touch”, a tactile display system that reproduces the sensation of stroking various material textures. The system can store up to 30 samples of material, which are connected via a continuous piece of tape. When not touching, [...] Read more.
This paper presents the development of “MateREAL Touch”, a tactile display system that reproduces the sensation of stroking various material textures. The system can store up to 30 samples of material, which are connected via a continuous piece of tape. When not touching, the material switches seamlessly, and the tape moves in sync with the user’s finger, dynamically replicating the feeling of stroking. Additionally, the device simulates transitions between contact and non-contact states by adjusting the grip mechanism based on virtual interactions. As fundamental performance assessments, the material’s switching time was measured. In addition, a discrimination task compared users’ ability to distinguish eight materials under static and dynamic touch conditions in both real and virtual environments. The results showed comparable discrimination accuracy, demonstrating the effectiveness of the system in reproducing real-world material textures in VR. These findings confirm the system’s ability to enable realistic texture perception in virtual environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Haptic Systems and the Tactile Internet: Design and Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

14 pages, 966 KiB  
Article
Stiffness Perception Analysis in Haptic Teleoperation with Imperfect Communication Network
by Yonghyun Park, Chanyoung Ju and Hyoung Il Son
Electronics 2025, 14(4), 792; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14040792 - 18 Feb 2025
Viewed by 477
Abstract
Incomplete communication networks (e.g., time delay and packet loss/switching) in haptic interaction and remote teleoperation systems can degrade both user performance and system stability. In this study, we hypothesized that human operator performance would decrease monotonically as network imperfections worsened. To test this [...] Read more.
Incomplete communication networks (e.g., time delay and packet loss/switching) in haptic interaction and remote teleoperation systems can degrade both user performance and system stability. In this study, we hypothesized that human operator performance would decrease monotonically as network imperfections worsened. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two psychophysical experiments measuring the just-noticeable difference (JND), point of subjective equality (PSE), and perception time under varying conditions of packet separation time and packet loss. Our findings show that increasing packet separation time significantly elevated both JND and PSE, indicating a poorer discrimination ability and a systematic bias toward perceiving the environment as stiffer. By contrast, packet loss rates of up to 75% had no significant impact on perceptual performance, suggesting that, at sufficiently high sampling rates, human operators can compensate for substantial data loss. Overall, the results underscore that packet separation time, rather than packet loss, is the dominant factor affecting perceptual performance in haptic teleoperation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Haptic Systems and the Tactile Internet: Design and Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 4915 KiB  
Article
Tele Haptic Handshake Using Distributed Pressure Presentation Device and Mutual Interaction Pressure Model
by Shun Watatani, Hikaru Nagano, Yuichi Tazaki and Yasuyoshi Yokokohji
Electronics 2025, 14(3), 537; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14030537 - 28 Jan 2025
Viewed by 654
Abstract
This study investigates the mutual interaction between self- and partner-induced actions in determining pressure distribution during a handshake and proposes a tele haptic handshake system based on these findings. To achieve this, experiments were conducted to examine how pressure distribution in face-to-face handshakes [...] Read more.
This study investigates the mutual interaction between self- and partner-induced actions in determining pressure distribution during a handshake and proposes a tele haptic handshake system based on these findings. To achieve this, experiments were conducted to examine how pressure distribution in face-to-face handshakes is influenced by mutual actions. Based on the experimental results, an interaction force model was developed to calculate stimulus intensities, incorporating region-specific weights for different parts of the hand. Additionally, a tele haptic handshake system was designed, integrating flex sensors to measure finger joint angles and a distributed haptic stimulus presentation device to provide tactile feedback. While this study lays the foundation for understanding the dynamics of handshake interactions and their application in remote environments, further validation of the system’s effectiveness in replicating real-world handshake experiences remains a subject for future work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Haptic Systems and the Tactile Internet: Design and Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1345 KiB  
Article
A Haptic Braille Keyboard Layout for Smartphone Applications
by Georgios Voutsakelis, Nikolaos Tzimos, Georgios Kokkonis and Sotirios Kontogiannis
Electronics 2024, 13(12), 2408; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics13122408 - 20 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1870
Abstract
Though most people are capable of performing many tasks regardless of cognitive or physical challenges, some individuals, especially those with visual impairments, must rely on others to perform even basic tasks. The chance of them interacting with a computing device is minimal, except [...] Read more.
Though most people are capable of performing many tasks regardless of cognitive or physical challenges, some individuals, especially those with visual impairments, must rely on others to perform even basic tasks. The chance of them interacting with a computing device is minimal, except for speech recognition technology, which is quite complicated. Additionally, it has become apparent that mainstream devices are gaining more acceptance among people with vision problems compared to traditional assistive devices. To address this, we developed the Haptic Braille Keyboard Android application to help vision-impaired users interact more easily with devices such as smartphones and tablets. The academic novelty of the application lies in its customization capabilities, which maximize the Quality of Experience for the user. The application allows users to place the Braille buttons in their desired layout for convenience. Users can move and position the virtual buttons on the screen to create a layout for text entry based on the Braille writing system. For this purpose, we conducted extensive testing and experimentation to determine which of the two commonly used Braille layouts is most user-friendly. This work can help visually impaired users interact with smartphones and tablets more easily and independently, making communication less challenging. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Haptic Systems and the Tactile Internet: Design and Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop