Tactile Feeling Display for Touch of Cloth Using Soft High Polymer Gel Actuators

Abstract

This paper proposes a ciliary device using soft high polymer gel actuators to express fine touch as a surface of cloth. This new device is designed with a number of cilia consisting of ICPF actuators, where a cilimn is 2 mm wide and 5 mm long. The device can generate various distributed stimuli to human sense receptors. It was experimentally confirmed that combinations of vibratory stimuli of high frequency and low frequency produced complex tactile feels. Comparison of the artificial tactile feels and cloth material samples demonstrated that this device developed could display subtle distinction in the touch of cloth, especially like a towel and a denim.