A tactile shape display using RC servomotors

Abstract

Tactile displays are used to convey small-scale force and shape information to the tip of the finger. In this paper, we present a 6/spl times/6 tactile shape display that uses commercial radio-controlled (RC) servomotors to actuate an array of mechanical pins. The display has a maximum pin deflection of 2 mm along with a resolution of 4 bits. Pin spacing is 2 mm with a pin diameter of 1 mm. The display can accurately represent frequencies up to 25 Hz for small amplitudes and the slew rate is limited at 38 mm/sec for larger amplitudes.