Dynamic Pattern Recognition with Localised Surface Haptics and Apparent Motion

Surface haptics is gaining increasing interest due to the potential of the added tangibility to standard touchscreen devices, with compliance effects, different localised multitouch feedback or textures. Dynamic illusions provide further possibilities, such as apparent motion, to indicate directions or other more complex motions. It could also help feel the contours of a shape, particularly useful in the accessibility field for digital graphics. The confinement of vibrotactile stimuli is a recent method that enables not only to provide both localised and multitouch feedback but also to put the whole hand on the display. Thus, it has the potential to combine different interaction styles, from static to dynamic interaction, with a single finger to the whole hand. Yet, so far, there has been little work on tactile interactions, and particularly pattern recognition with this method. Therefore, this paper presents a preliminary investigation into the feasibility of using confined vibrotactile stimuli to identify geometric shapes using apparent motion. The results show that participants could feel continuous movements and with training reached recognition rates overall of 72.1%.