Correlation between electrovibration perception magnitude and the normal force applied by finger

Abstract

Electrovibration has been used to render the surface texture on tactile devices. To understand how the rendering performance is related to the normal force applied to the surface of the device by a finger, we investigated the influence of the applied normal force on electrovibration perception magnitude. We conducted a magnitude estimation experiment to observe how the electrovibration perception relates to the applied normal force ranging from 0.5 to 5 N. We measured the frictional force on a finger together with the normal force and calculated the friction induced by the electrostatic force. We found that the electrovibration perception magnitude increased with the increased applied normal force. Similarly, the friction induced by the electrostatic force increased with the applied normal force. This study demonstrates that the applied normal force has a large influence on the electrovibration perception, which needs to be considered in virtual texture rendering on electrovibration-based tactile devices.