Confinement of Vibrotactile Stimuli in Narrow Plates

Abstract

On a touch surface, providing a local vibrotactile feedback enables multiusers and multitouch interactions. While the vibration propagation usually impedes this localization, we show in this paper that narrow strip-shaped plates constitute waveguides in which bending waves below a cutoff frequency do not propagate. We provide a theoretical explanation of the phenomenon and experimental validations. We thus show that vibrations up to 2 kHz are well confined on top of the actuated area with vibration amplitude over 1 µm that can be felt by the fingers. The principle was validated with piezoelectric actuators of various shapes and a vibration motor.

Origo Steering Wheel: Improving Tactile Feedback for Steering Wheel IVIS Interaction using Embedded Haptic Wave Guides and Constructive Wave Interference

“…The 3D-printed Steering wheel with EHWs was developed by shafts and indentations consistent with [19]. As waveguides are essentially a medium where the wave propagation is bounded in two directions of space and free in the third one [20,21], the 3D-printed design utilized ABS plastic material (100% fill rate) as the mediation channel and empty space around it act as the isolating area (Fig. 1).…”

Phononic Crystals Applied to Localised Surface Haptics

“…To date, however, ultrasonic lubrication is limited to global interactions since the standing waves must be established throughout an entire plate. The use of evanescent waves confined in waveguides was proposed to deal with this problem in [12] and [13] but with this approach, localisation is limited to the regions where the actuators are placed. Many applications would benefit from a local control of the frictional properties of surface.…”