Effectiveness of a tactile display for providing orientation information of 3d-patterned surfaces

Abstract

This paper studies the effectiveness of a tactile display in providing information about the orientation of 3d-patterned surfaces. In particular, it investigates the perception of the orientation of sinusoidal gratings rendered through the display in a passive guided touch modality. The results of this study have revealed that participants could successfully perceive variations in the orientation of the rendered sinusoidal gratings. Moreover, they indicate a small difference in the perception of orientation between touching virtual gratings and touching real gratings. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.