Producing Softness Sensation on an Electrostatic Texture Display for Rendering Diverse Tactile Feelings

This paper investigates the possibility of producing two different tactile feelings on one device. A simple mechanism for softness presentation was integrated with an electrostatic tactile display that can generate surface texture sensations. The principle of softness presentation is contact-width control, where contact width between a fingertip and the display is controlled corresponding to contact force. In the prototype, the softness-producing mechanism deforms the slider film of the electrostatic display so as to control the contact width between the fingertip and the film. Experimental results showed that the prototype could successfully elicit softness sensations, although the perceived softness was slightly harder than the intended softness