TeslaTouch

TLDR

The paper introduces an electrovibration‑based tactile feedback technology for touch interfaces, details its principles and implementation, and examines its design space compared to mechanical vibrotactile actuation. The system generates diverse tactile sensations without moving parts by modulating surface voltage, and its perception was evaluated through psychophysical experiments and user studies. The technology supports a wide range of tactile interfaces, and experiments demonstrate users can reliably perceive virtual elements, with comparative analysis highlighting design trade‑offs against mechanical vibrotactile actuation.

Abstract

We present a new technology for enhancing touch interfaces with tactile feedback. The proposed technology is based on the electrovibration principle, does not use any moving parts and provides a wide range of tactile feedback sensations to fingers moving across a touch surface. When combined with an interactive display and touch input, it enables the design of a wide variety of interfaces that allow the user to feel virtual elements through touch. We present the principles of operation and an implementation of the technology. We also report the results of three controlled psychophysical experiments and a subjective user evaluation that describe and characterize users' perception of this technology. We conclude with an exploration of the design space of tactile touch screens using two comparable setups, one based on electrovibration and another on mechanical vibrotactile actuation.