Presenting spatial tactile messages with a hand-held device

This paper introduces a multi-actuator tactile device designed for remote touch communication. While closely-spaced high-frequency vibrotactile actuators can be difficult to distinguish, our system utilized four linear DC motors for presenting spatial tactile messages through low-frequency actuation. An experiment was conducted to determine accuracy for recognizing stimuli presented on the palm of the hand. Participants were asked to identify 10 predefined stimulus patterns created from the four linear actuators positioned in either a diamond or square configuration. Results showed that positional, linear, and circular stimuli were recognized with mean response accuracies of 98.8, 96.5, and 90.2%, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found between the actuator configurations. These findings can be utilized in developing a remote communication channel that supports the transfer of spatial aspects of touch such as mapping the location of finger touch of one user to tactile sensation on the palm of another user.