• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.150-155
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• 2013

Vibrotactile actuators for small consumer electronic products, such as mobile devices, have been widely used for conveying haptic sensation to users. One of the most important things in vibrotactile actuators is to be developed in the form of thin actuator which can be easily embedded into mobile devices and to provide vibrotactile signals with wide frequency band to users. Thus, this paper proposes a thin film type haptic actuator with an aim to convey vibrotactile information with high frequency bandwidth to users in mobile devices. To this end, a vibrotactile actuator which creates haptic sensation is designed and constructed based on cellulose acetate material. A cellulose acetate material charged with an electric potential can generate vibration under the AC voltage input. It is found that the motion of the actuator can have concave or convex shape by controlling a polarity of both charged membranes and the actuator performance can be modulated by increasing level of biased electric potential. The experiment clearly shows that the proposed actuator creates enough output force to stimulate human skin with a large frequency bandwidth and to simulate various vibrotactile sensations to users.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1259-1264
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• 2011

This paper suggests a new film-type haptic actuator based on cellulose acetate electro-active paper. Conventional tiny haptic actuators in mobile devices can create vibrotactile sensation at only near resonant frequency. The strategy of operating near the resonant frequency, however, brought a new issue for creating vibrotactile sensation which can be strong enough to feel in arbitrary frequency. Another problem is that the size of the conventional actuator is not small enough to be embedded into slim mobile devices. In order to achieve these issues, we propose a thin and tiny actuator based on a cellulose acetate material charged with an electric potential. The motion of the actuator can be a concave or a convex by controlling a polarity of both charged membranes and the actuator performance can be modulated by increasing level of biased electric potential.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.1102-1113
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• 2018

Vibrotactile feedback is widely used in designing non-visual interactions on mobile phones, such as message notification, non-visual reading, and blind use. In this work, novel vibrotactile codes are presented to implement a non-visual text reading system for mobile phones. The 26 letters of the English alphabet are formed in an index table with four rows and seven columns, and each letter is mapped using the codes of vibrations. Two kinds of vibrotactile codes are designed with the actuator's on and off states and with specific lengths (short and long) assigned to each state. To improve the efficiency of tactile perception and user satisfaction, three user experiments are conducted. The first experiment explores the maximum number of continuous vibrations and minimum vibration time of the actuator's on and off states that the human can perceive. The second experiment determines the minimum interval between continuous vibrations. The vibrotactile reading system is designed and evaluated in the third experiment according to the results of the two preceding experiments. Results show that the character reading accuracy reaches 91.7% and the character reading speed is approximately 617.8 ms. Our method has better reading efficiency and is easier to learn than the traditional Braille coding method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.743-748
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• 2015

This paper reports the enhanced fabrication and characterization of a $3{\times}3$ array tactile actuator composed of cellulose acetate. The array tactile actuator, with dimensions of $15{\times}15{\times}1mm^3$, consists of 9 pillar-supported cells made from a cellulose-acetate molding. The fabrication process and performance test along with the results for the suggested actuator are explained. To improve the cell-array fabrication, a laser cut was adopted after the molding process. The displacement of the unit cell increased the input voltage and frequency. Various top masses are added onto the actuator to mimic the touch force, and the acceleration of the actuator is measured under actuation. When 2 kV is applied to the actuator, the maximum acceleration is 0.64 g, which is above the vibrotactile threshold. The actuation mechanism is associated with the electrostatic force between the top and bottom electrodes.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.143-149
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• 2013

This paper presents a new miniature haptic display to convey ample haptic information to a user of a handheld interface. There are buttons on interfaces or general electronic devices, but existing buttons provide haptic feedback of only one passive pattern to a user. Because humans perceive tactile and kinesthetic information simultaneously when they handle objects the proposed actuator provides both sensations at once. It is able to generate various levels of kinesthetic sensations when pressing a button under diverse situations. Also, vibrotactile feedback can be delivered for exciting haptic effects with numerous patterns. Its performance was evaluated in accordance with the resistive force by changing the intensity of the input current. Experiments show that the proposed actuator has the ability to provide numerous haptic sensations for more realistic and complex haptic experiences.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.795-800
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• 2014

In this paper, a vibrotactile pad system, T-mobile, is developed to provide vibrotactile cues for hand-held devices. A grooved and slim design is adapted to the back-side plane of the T-mobile, and the contact part consists of 12 vibrotactile panels which can operate independently and separately. To be isolated among vibrotactile actuators, the surface of the cover is divided into several pieces. Each vibrating module consists of a linear resonant actuator, a section of covering surface, and a vibration isolator. In order to provide spatial and directional information, sensory saltation and phantom sensation are applied to the T-mobile. To evaluate the developed device, two experiments were conducted to test whether directional information and spatial information can be successfully displayed by the device. Additionally, in order to find optimal stimulation by sensory saltation, an empirical test was conducted. As a result, spatial and directional information would be useful for displaying intuitive information for hand-held devices with vibrotactile feedback and reasonable near-optimal value for sensory saltation was obtained.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.662-667
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• 2021

Vibrotactile feedback is a major function of the latest touch displays, which greatly improves the user's operability and immersion when interacting with the interface on the screen. In this study, we propose a vibrotactile actuator suitable for mounting on the back side of a mid- to large-sized display because it can generate a strong vibration output by applying an electrostatic force-based mechanism and can be manufactured in a thin flat panel type. The proposed actuator was developed in a structure capable of amplifying the vibration force by alternating up and down with electrostatic force by the upper and lower electrodes that are spaced apart from the electrically grounded mass suspended from a radial leaf spring. As a result of the performance evaluation, the developed bar-type module with two built-in actuators showed excellent vibration output of up to 3.3 g at 170 Hz, confirming the possibility of providing haptic feedback in medium and large touch displays.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.02a
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• pp.1683-1687
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• 2009

This paper addresses a haptic actuator which can be applied to mobile devices. For haptic feedback in mobile devices, we have to consider not only stimulating force and frequency but also the size and the power consumption of a haptic module. Thus far, vibration motors have been widely used in mobile devices to provide tactile sensation. The reason is that a vibration motor is small enough to be inserted into a mobile device. This paper addresses vibrotactile actuators and other haptic actuators which can generate a wide variety of tactile sensations.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.02a
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• pp.1-5
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• 2009

In this paper, we develop a haptic mouse system for immersive human computer interaction. The proposed haptic mouse system can provide vibrotactile feedback as well as thermal feedback for realistic virtual experience. For vibrotactile and thermal feedback, we use eccentric motors, a solenoid, and a peltier actuator. In order to evaluate the proposed haptic mouse, we implement a racing game prototype system. The experimental result shows that our haptic mouse is expected to be useful in experiencing virtual world.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.83-100
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• 1997

The Human Sensory Feedback Laboratory, park of the Armstrong Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is involved in the development and evaluation of systems that provide sensory feedback to the human operator in telerobotic and virtual environment applications. Specific projects underway in the laboratory are primarily concerned with the information provided by force and vibrotactile feedback to the operator in dextrous manipulation tasks. Four specific research projects are described in the present report. These include : 1) experiments evaluating a 30-element fingertip display, which employs a titanium-nickel shape memory alloy actuator design to provide vibrotactile feedback about object shape and surface texture ; 2) of a fingertip force-feedback display for 3-dimensional information about object shape and suface texture ; 3) use of a force- feedback joystic to provide "force tunnel" information in pilot pursuit tracking tasks ; and 4) evaluations of a 7 degree-of-freedom exoskeleton used to control a robotic arm. Both basic and applied research questions are discussed.