An empirical study of rendering sinusoidal textures on a ultrasonic variable-friction haptic surface

An ultrasonic variable-friction tactile display (VFTD) utilizes a squeeze film effect to generate and transmit a touch sensation of texture to a human fingertip in contact with the haptic surface. Haptic devices in this category can render and control various types of surface roughness through the amplitude modulation. This paper presents an experimental study of constructing amplitude modulation signals to create a virtual texture with a simple sinusoidal topology on a VFTD. A series of user tests have been conducted to identify and evaluate the relationship between an amplitude-modulated electrical signal input and a rendered texture output. The experimental results may significantly contribute to a better understanding of texture rendering on the variable-friction tactile displays.