TorqueScreen

Abstract

Handheld touch screen based devices, such as smartphones or tablets, typically provide limited haptic feedback. On cur- rent devices, what is visually perceived and what is tactile and kinesthetically felt is semantically uncoupled. In order to improve embodied interaction on handheld screen based devices, new ways to provide richer haptic feedback are re- quired. In this paper, we present TorqueScreen, a prototypi- cal system combining a handheld touch screen device (i.e., a tablet) with an actuated flywheel capable of imposing angular momentum onto the tablet. The TorqueScreen design allows interlinking the movement and physics of virtual objects on the screen with the torque as haptic output imposed on the tablet. We describe the design and implementation of the de- vice, illustrate the resulting design space, and discuss future improvements and potential applications.