While model-mediated teleoperation (MMT) is an effective alternative for ensuring both transparency and stability, its potential in transmitting surface haptic texture is not yet explored. This paper introduces the first MMT framework capable of sharing surface haptic texture. The follower side collects physical signals contributing to haptic texture perception, e.g., high frequency acceleration, and streams them to the leader side. The leader side uses the signals to build and update a local measurement-based texture simulation model that reflects the remote surface. At the same time, the leader runs local simulation using the model, resulting in non-delayed, stable, and accurate feedback of texture. Considering that rendering haptic texture needs tougher real-time requirements, e.g., higher update rate and lower action-feedback latency, MMT can be a perfect platform for remote texture sharing. An initial proof-of-concept system supporting single and homogeneous surface is implemented and evaluated, demonstrating the potential of the approach.

This paper introduces a framework to predict multi-dimensional haptic attribute values that humans use to recognize the material by using the physical tactile signals (acceleration) generated when a textured surface is stroked. To this end, two spaces are established: a haptic attribute space and a physical signal space. A five-dimensional haptic attribute space is established through human adjective rating experiments with the 25 real texture samples. The physical space is constructed using tool-based interaction data from the same 25 samples. A mapping is modeled between the aforementioned spaces using a newly designed CNN-LSTM deep learning network. Finally, a prediction algorithm is implemented that takes acceleration data and returns coordinates in the haptic attribute space. A quantitative evaluation was conducted to inspect the reliability of the algorithm on unseen textures, showing that the model outperformed other similar models.