Toward Whole-Hand Kinesthetic Feedback: A Survey of Force Feedback Gloves

Force feedback gloves have found many applications in fields such as teleoperation and virtual reality. In order to enhance the immersive feeling of interaction with remote or virtual environments, glove-like haptic devices are used, which enable users to touch and manipulate virtual objects in a more intuitive and direct way via the dexterous manipulation and sensitive perception capabilities of human hands. In this survey, we aim to identify the gaps between existing force feedback gloves and the desired ones that can provide robust and realistic sensation of the interaction with diverse virtual environments. By examining existing force feedback gloves, the pros and cons of existing design solutions to the major sub-systems including sensing, actuation, control, transmission and structure are discussed. Future research topics are put forward with design challenges being elaborated. Innovative design solutions are needed to enable the utility of wearable haptic gloves in the upcoming virtual reality era.