Pseudo Potential Fields on Surface-Haptic Touchscreens using Friction Modulation

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Abstract

It is impossible to imagine modern day interaction with technology without the use of touchscreens. It is a go-to interface to use for many applications, because of the high stimuli-response compatibility and adaptability of the graphical user interface. But the haptic feedback one would have with physical buttons and dials, is lost with the use of touchscreens. High potential to improve the interaction with high resolution haptic feedback is often ignored. In this paper, the use of a haptic pseudo-potential field rendering method on a friction modulated touchscreen is proposed. With this method, the user is assisted in moving towards a target by lowering the friction and impeded in moving away by increasing the friction coefficient. In a human factors experiment, this rendering method is compared to a position-based friction modulation method. Subjects are instructed to find a target path, based on the haptic feedback. The results show that the position-based rendering method has a higher hit-rate and lower movement times. This demonstrates that the pseudo-potential field method is difficult to perceive, however it is expected that advancements in rendering larger friction coefficient ranges or even active lateral force feedback will improve this rendering method.