Tactile Brush: Drawing on Skin with a Tactile Grid Display

Tactile Brush is an algorithm that produces smooth, two-dimensional tactile moving strokes with varying frequency, intensity, velocity and direction of motion. The design of the algorithm is derived from the results of psychophysical investigations of two tactile illusions - apparent tactile motion and phantom sensations. Combined together they allow for the design of high-density two-dimensional tactile displays using sparse vibrotactile arrays. In a series of experiments and evaluations we demonstrate that Tactile Brush is robust and can reliably generate a wide variety of moving tactile sensations for a broad range of applications.