An actuated stage for a tablet computer: Generation of tactile feedback and communication using the motion of the whole tablet

In this demo session, we demonstrate two of our original tactile feedback devices and provide user experiences of their performance. The devices, with a combined use of a tablet computer, are used to constitute a kind of communication robot which has a rotating wheel or an actuated stage to give tactile feedback to the user´s fingers while the user is performing a gesture operation on the touch panel. The devices are designed to give comfortable tactile feedback with very smooth movement actuated by eccentric rotation of a ball bearing. Although a low-cost servo motor for a hobby is used to rotate the eccentric shaft of the bearing, it is demonstrated to be effective in representing depth and hardness of the virtual surface by synchronizing the movement of the touch panel surface with the finger movement and the pressure detected by the touch panel.