Evaluation of Vibrotactile Output from a Rotating Motor Actuator

2022

Article

hi

Specialized vibrotactile actuators are widely used to output haptic sensations due to their portability and robustness; some models are expensive and capable, while others are economical but weaker and less expressive. To increase the accessibility of high-quality haptics, we designed a cost-effective actuation approach called the rotating motor actuator (RMA): it uses a small DC motor to generate vibrotactile cues on a rigid stylus. We conducted a psychophysical experiment where eighteen volunteers matched the RMA's vibration amplitudes with those from a high-quality reference actuator (Haptuator Mark II) at twelve frequencies from 50 Hz to 450 Hz. The average error in matching acceleration magnitudes was 10.2%. More current was required for the RMA than the reference actuator; a stronger DC motor would require less current. Participants also watched a video of a real tool-mediated interaction with playback of recorded vibrotactile cues from each actuator. 94.4% of the participants agreed that the RMA delivered realistic vibrations and audio cues during this replay. 83.3% reported that the RMA vibrations were pleasant, compared to 66.7% for the reference. A possible cause for this significant difference may be that the reference actuator (which has a mechanical resonance) distorts low-frequency vibrations more than the RMA does.

@article{Gourishetti22-TH-Evaluation,
  title = {Evaluation of Vibrotactile Output from a Rotating Motor Actuator},
  author = {Gourishetti, Ravali and Kuchenbecker, Katherine J.},
  journal = {IEEE Transactions on Haptics},
  volume = {15},
  number = {1},
  pages = {39--44},
  month = jan,
  year = {2022},
  note = {Presented at the IEEE Haptics Symposium},
  doi = {10.1109/TOH.2021.3138867},
  month_numeric = {1}
}