Abstract
Touchscreen devices have become increasingly common in our daily lives. Although smaller touchscreen devices provide sufficient user interaction with meaningful tactile feedback, larger touch devices have the potential to offer a range of tactile stimulation. Previous research on large touch surface vibrotactile localization has utilized numerous actuators and traditional rigid boundary conditions. However, the possibility of localized haptic rendering using multi-frequency excitations is not explored for large rectangular touch surfaces. This study focuses on developing a finite element model of a large touch surface along with a limited number of electrostatic vibration actuators placed at different spatial locations and analyzing the vibrotactile response produced by various combinations of actuators with different frequencies and amplitudes. The effect of the number of actuators and their placement for rendering haptic feedback on the touch surface is explored. Statistical analysis is presented using model simulations to find out a suitable way of actuator placement which is otherwise cumbersome when chosen arbitrarily on a practical device. The effect of the mechanical property of the actuators on the haptic rendering is also explored. Finally, the possibility of localized haptic rendering by switching between actuator frequencies and actuation positions on the touch surface is demonstrated.
