Paper Reading #12: TeslaTouch: Electrovibration for Touch Surfaces

Comments:

Reference Information:
Title: TeslaTouch: Electrovibration for Touch Surfaces
Author: Olivier Bau, Ivan Poupyrev, Ali Israr, Chris Harrison
Venue: UIST 

Summary:
The authors describe a new form of touch display called TeslaTouch which uses friction to give the user additional feedback about what objects they are interacting with on the screen. This is achieved by the use of a transparent electrode sheet. When a electronic signal is sent through the electrode sheet is creates a friction that the user can feel.

 By altering the frequency and amplitude of the electronic signal.Users reported that low frequency resulted in a rougher feeling like that of wood, while higher frequencies were smooth like paper. The effect of amplitude was dependent on the frequency. At high frequencies, higher amplitude increased smoothness. At low frequencies, higher amplitude resulted in a sticky feeling. A complete list of reported sensations is given below.

Discussion:
This is another technology that I found absolutely fascinating. This could be used in virtually any multi-touch application. Even simple uses such as moving a document could be made to feel like paper. I do question how much more expensive the TeslaTouch is than a normal multi-touch screen. While the paper makes note that this process is incredibly safe because of the low amount of electricity being used, I am curious if there is any chance of something short circuiting and causing possible harm to the user.