Reading #14 : Tesla Touch: Electrovibration for Touch Surfaces

References:
Tesla Touch: Electrovibration for Touch Surfaces by Olivier Bau, Ivan Poupyrev, Ali Israr, Chris Harrison.  


Published in UIST '10 Proceedings of the 23nd annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology.


Author Bios:
Olivier Bau has a PhD in Computer Science.
Ivan Poupyrev is a Researcher at Walt Disney Research.
Ali Israr is a Researcher at Walt Disney Research.
Chris Harrison is a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon.


Summary
Hypothesis:
Electrovibration can offer a better method of touch interaction than tactile interfaces currently used.


Method:
Subjects were asked to touch and then describe and answer questions about Tesla-touch surfaces. The subjects spent different amounts of time in the detection thresholds and frequency and amplitude detection. Intensities also varied.


Results:
High frequency surfaces were perceived as smoother to the subjects. (wood feeling). Amplitude has a corresponding relationship with frequency. Turning up amplitude at high frequencies increased 'smoothness'. 


Content:
The researchers were attempting to find ways to get better tactile feedback from a surface. They recruited various test subjects and had them feel various surfaces, testing amplitude and frequency ranges. They then recorded the ranges that they observed and how they felt differently. They also studied the minimum and maximum frequencies that users could feel a difference.


Discussion:
A neat paper overall. I like all the things that they are doing with touch surfaces. It seems that this could be useful in the future when touch screen devices become more advanced. The ability to feel different textures could offer up a whole new world of possibilities on what a mobile or touch screen device could be capable of.