Generating haptic textures with a vibrotactile actuator

TY - GEN

T1 - Generating haptic textures with a vibrotactile actuator

AU - Strohmeier, Paul

AU - Hornbæk, Kasper

PY - 2017/5/2

Y1 - 2017/5/2

N2 - Vibrotactile actuation is typically used to deliver buzzing sensations. But if vibrotactile actuation is tightly coupled to users' actions, it can be used to create much richer haptic experiences. It is not well understood, however, how this coupling should be done or which vibrotactile parameters create which experiences. To investigate how actuation parameters relate to haptic experiences, we built a physical slider with minimal native friction, a vibrotactile actuator and an integrated position sensor. By vibrating the slider as it is moved, we create an experience of texture between the sliding element and its track. We conducted a magnitude estimation experiment to map how granularity, amplitude and timbre relate to the experiences of roughness, adhesiveness, sharpness and bumpiness. We found that amplitude influences the strength of the perceived texture, while variations in granularity and timbre create distinct experiences. Our study underlines the importance of action in haptic perception and suggests strategies for deploying such tightly coupled feedback in everyday devices. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.

AB - Vibrotactile actuation is typically used to deliver buzzing sensations. But if vibrotactile actuation is tightly coupled to users' actions, it can be used to create much richer haptic experiences. It is not well understood, however, how this coupling should be done or which vibrotactile parameters create which experiences. To investigate how actuation parameters relate to haptic experiences, we built a physical slider with minimal native friction, a vibrotactile actuator and an integrated position sensor. By vibrating the slider as it is moved, we create an experience of texture between the sliding element and its track. We conducted a magnitude estimation experiment to map how granularity, amplitude and timbre relate to the experiences of roughness, adhesiveness, sharpness and bumpiness. We found that amplitude influences the strength of the perceived texture, while variations in granularity and timbre create distinct experiences. Our study underlines the importance of action in haptic perception and suggests strategies for deploying such tightly coupled feedback in everyday devices. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM.

U2 - 10.1145/3025453.3025812

DO - 10.1145/3025453.3025812

M3 - Article in proceedings

SP - 4994

EP - 5005

BT - Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - 2017 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Y2 - 6 May 2017 through 11 May 2017

ER -