A pneu shape display: Physical buttons with programmable touch response

By the nature of their physicality, conventional push-buttons provide raised edges and click feel that support localization and confirm actuation, even in the absence of vision. Though touchscreens augmented with modulated traction forces can render certain haptic cues, these cues are not sufficient to support many of the types of user interaction available through push-buttons. In this paper we introduce pneumatic actuators suitable for overlay on touchscreens that render programmable raised features and click feel. We present a user study that employs our programmable raised button technology in a secondary task while participants drive a simulated car. Relative to a touchscreen interface, the programmable raised buttons allow participants to keep their eyes on the simulated road and improve lane keeping.