Spectrum-based vibrotactile footstep-display for crinkle of fragile structures

This study developed a vibrotactile display method for the crinkle/scrunch of fragile structures. For such structures, tactile stimuli are more easily perceived by humans than the very small reaction forces that occur during a crinkle. The developed method synthesizes vibrotactile acceleration stimuli for a crinkle based on the preliminarily measured acceleration spectra. We developed a footstep display that presents the synthesized stimuli to human soles in response to the humans´ foot speed. The display presents the sensations acquired by stepping on fragile structures. Experimental participants identified the types of materials of cylindrical fragile structures among paper, aluminum foil, and polypropylene film, at probabilities significantly higher than the chance level.