Haptic Illusions: Experiments on Human Manipulation and Perception of “Virtual Objects”
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
The use of tools is one of the distinctive features of human behavior. Although other species make and use rudimentary tools, this behavior is most highly developed in humans. What is the nature of the underlying neural processes? What does the brain have to do to accomplish effective tool use?
To address this question, we have adopted an approach combining biological and robotic methods. One of the impediments to gaining a deeper understanding of motor behavior is that biological systems can be quite deceptive; superficial inspection (or introspection) rarely reveals the true complexity of what is going on. In biological systems, we see the solutions; the underlying problems are typically disguised. In contrast, attempts to accomplish comparable behavior in robotic systems quickly reveal the problems; however, solutions are often less obvious.
Control of Contact
Contact with objects is clearly a fundamental prerequisite for the use of tools, yet the apparently
