Surface Acoustic Wave Tactile Display using a Large Size Glass Transducer

A method to provide human tactile sensation using surface acoustic wave (SAW) was proposed. A stator transducer material (piezoelectric material) of a SAW tactile display, however, had constraint of size and shape. In this research, to solve this problem, a new method has been proposed to excite and propagate SAW on a non-piezoelectric material surface. Excitation and propagation of SAW on a non-piezoelectric material is realized by a combination of a LiNbO₃ plate and a glass substrate. This paper describes design and fabrication of a large sized glass substrate transducer for the novel method to indicate tactile sensation using SAW. The design employs the novel transducer structure, which has been proposed previously. Using the transducer, two-dimensional rubbing motion is available. This paper also reports measurement result of speed of a slider under control. The result indicates successful display of roughness sensation based on the tactile display principle proposed by authors.