Gentle stroking touches are rated most pleasant when applied at a velocity of between 1–10 cm/s. Such touches are considered highly relevant in social interactions. Here, we investigate whether stroking sensations generated by a vibrotactile array can produce similar pleasantness responses, with the ultimate goal of using this type of haptic display in technology mediated social touch. A study was conducted in which participants received vibrotactile stroking stimuli of different velocities and intensities, applied to their lower arm. Results showed that the stimuli were perceived as continuous stroking sensations in a straight line. Furthermore, pleasantness ratings for low intensity vibrotactile stroking followed an inverted U-curve, similar to that found in research into actual stroking touches. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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We demonstrate a method that allows two users to communicate remotely using their sense of touch by dynamically applying vibrotactile feedback to one user's forearm using two different input methods. User input on a standard mobile touch-screen device or a purpose-built touch-sensitive wearable is analyzed in real time, and used to control intensity, location, and motion parameters of the vibrotactile output to synthesize the stroke on a second users arm. Our method demonstrates that different input methods can be used for generating similar vibrotactile sensations.
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