Pinching Visuo-haptic Display: Investigating Cross-Modal Effects of Visual Textures on Electrostatic Cloth Tactile Sensations

TL;DR

This study explores how visual textures affect tactile perception on electrostatic cloth displays, revealing that visual roughness enhances perceived friction and informing multimodal haptic interface design.

Contribution

It introduces a visuo-haptic system for virtual fabrics and demonstrates cross-modal effects between visual roughness and tactile friction perception.

Findings

Visually rough textures increase perceived friction.

Visual cues modulate tactile sensations under electrostatic stimulation.

Insights for designing multimodal haptic interfaces.

Abstract

This paper investigates how visual texture presentation influences tactile perception when interacting with electrostatic cloth displays. We propose a visuo-haptic system that allows users to pinch and rub virtual fabrics while feeling realistic frictional sensations modulated by electrostatic actuation. Through a user study, we examined the cross-modal effects between visual roughness and perceived tactile friction. The results demonstrate that visually rough textures amplify the perceived frictional force, even under identical electrostatic stimuli. These findings contribute to the understanding of multimodal texture perception and provide design insights for haptic feedback in virtual material interfaces.