Artificial tactile feeling displayed by large displacement MEMS actuator arrays

We demonstrate display of artificial tactile feeling using large displacement MEMS actuator arrays. Each actuator consists of a piezoelectric actuator and hydraulic displacement amplification mechanism (HDAM) that encapsulates incompressible liquid in a micro-chamber with two flexible polymer membranes. In prior work, we experimentally applied the actuator arrays to an efficient vibrational Braille code display. In this paper, we investigated the artificial tactile feeling projected onto the fingertip in contact with the display while the actuation pattern was controlled both temporally and spatially. The arrays could successfully display “rough” and “smooth” tactile feeling distinctly when the vibrational frequency of the individual actuator and switching time of the lines of actuators were controlled.