Tactile feedback displayed through touchscreens via electrovibration

Abstract

Displaying tactile feedback through a touchscreen via electrovibration has many potential applications in mobile devices, consumer electronics, home appliances and automotive industry. However, this area of research is new and the electromechanical interactions between human finger and the touchscreen under electrovibration as well as the effect of frictional forces arising from these interactions on our haptic perception have not been fully understood yet. The aim of this study is to investigate the electro-mechanical interactions between human finger and a touchscreen under electrovibration in depth. In particular, we investigate the effect of following factors on the frictional force acting on the finger and the finger contact area; a) the amplitude and signal type (AC or DC) of voltage signal applied to the conductive layer of touchscreen, b) the magnitude of normal force applied by finger on touchscreen, and c) effect of finger speed. The results of this study enable us to better understand the physics of contact interactions between human finger and a touchscreen actuated by electrostatic forces.