A novel biometric system for identification and verification of haptic users

Currently, almost all systems involve an identity authentication process before a user can access requested services such as online transactions, entrance to a secured vault, logging into a computer system, accessing laptops, secure access to buildings, etc. Therefore, authentication has become the core of any secure system, wherein most of the cases rely on identity recognition approaches. Biometric systems provide the solution to ensure that the rendered services are accessed only by a legitimate user and no one else. Biometric systems identify users based on behavioral or physiological characteristics. The advantages of such systems over traditional authentication methods, such as passwords and IDs, are well known; hence, biometric systems are gradually gaining ground in terms of usage. We investigate the issues related to the usage of haptics as a mechanism to extract behavioral features that define a biometric identifier system. In order to test this possibility, we design a haptic system in which position, velocity, force, and torque data from the instrument is continuously measured and stored as users perform a specific task. We analyze the information content of the haptic data generated directly from the instrument's interface. We then measure the physical attributes such as force and torque that provide the richest information content pertaining to a user's identity. Through a series of experimental work, we discover that haptic interfaces are more suited to verification mode rather than identification mode. Finally, we implement a biometric system based on haptics.