Pinching Tactile Display: A Remote Haptic Feedback System for Fabric Texture

In the evolving field of virtual reality (VR) and telepresence, the generation and replication of tactile sensations is critical. Traditional haptic feedback devices have focused on replicating the feel of hard objects, with less attention paid to soft materials. The challenge of reproducing soft tactile sensations stems from two main issues. First, mechanical actuators tend to lose the soft texture when integrated with soft materials. Second, devices such as vibration motors are designed to stimulate a single point, making them unsuitable for reproducing the sensation of more complex tactile interactions, such as the feel of rubbing fabric. We propose Pinching Tactile Display, a system that creates fabric capable of changing its tactile sensation by manipulating the electrostatic force between it and the user's finger. By controlling the voltage and frequency applied to the conductive fabric, different tactile sensations can be dynamically generated. This makes it possible to create a tactile device in which tactile sensations are applied to the entire fabric while maintaining the flexible property of the fabric. As a result, users could experiment with tactile sensations by pinching and rubbing the fabric in the same way they normally touch it. This mechanism has the potential for dynamic tactile transformation of soft materials.