Force display touchpad: Prototype and pre-test

Personal computers (PCs) provide much information, with characters or pictures used for communication with the PC. As such, it is difficult for visually impaired persons or the elderly to use PCs that depend on visual stimuli. Various human interfaces have been developed for PC operation that mitigate this problem. However, hitherto these have not been widely used. In this study, we aim to develop a force display touchpad to support PC operation. This report describes both the hardware and software for a prototype, and a pre-test to investigate its usefulness.