Resistive swipe: Visuo-haptic interaction during swipe gestures to scroll background images on touch interfaces

This paper proposes a novel method named “Resistive swipe” that renders haptic perceptions only using a touch screen based on visuo-haptic interaction. The method evokes a feeling of resistive force by creating a discrepancy between the movement of the finger during swiping the screen and the background image shown on the screen. Through two experiments, this study shows that the “Resistive Swipe” can evoke perception of resistance according to the constant ratio between the displacement of the finger and background image (the user perceives strong resistance to move when the background image moves slower than the finger). Moreover, the experiments also suggested that the evoked haptic perception becomes stronger when the method is applied to frequently repeated movements. These features suggested that the mechanism to evoke haptic perception in the proposed approach differs from that in the conventional pseudo-haptic approach. Because the “Resistive Swipe” is simple and easy to implement on ordinary smartphone/tablet applications that use swipe gestures to scroll the background image, it opens up a new possibility of haptic feedback on touch panels.