Modeling Sliding Friction Between Human Finger and Touchscreen Under Electroadhesion

Closed-Loop Control of Electroadhesion Using Current Regulation

Electroadhesion displays provide controllable friction between the fingertip and screen. However, the change of contact condition causes variability in the produced friction. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel method for closed-loop control using current regulation to improve the precision of the electroadhesion force regardless of contact conditions. The current sensor obtains static current (when the finger is stationary) and dynamic current (when the finger is sliding). The static current is used to estimate the apparent contact area. The estimated contact area modulates the driving voltage along with the dynamic current. To verify the proposed method, we measured electroadhesion forces under open-loop control and closed-loop control. The benefit of using this closed-loop control is shown by comparing the relative static error of open-loop control and closed-loop control. The relative error reductions achieved over 34 % (max 112 %) for four changing contact conditions.

Frequency-Dependent Behavior of Electrostatic Forces Between Human Finger and Touch Screen Under Electroadhesion

The existing lumped parameter circuit models do not capture the true (experimentally observed) behavior of electrostatic forces between human finger and a touch screen under electroadhesion, changing as a function of stimulation frequency. In order to address this problem, we first conducted an experiment to measure the voltage-induced frictional forces acting on the finger of a user sliding on a touch screen under constant normal force for stimulation frequencies ranging from 1 to 10 ⁶ Hz. The steady-state values of coefficient of sliding friction for those frequencies and the value for voltage-free sliding (no electroadhesion) were utilized to estimate the magnitude of electrostatic force as a function of frequency. The experimental data shows that electrostatic force follows an inverted parabolic curve with a peak value around 250 Hz. Following the experimental characterization of electrostatic forces, an electro-mechanical model based on the fundamental laws of electric fields and Persson's multi-scale contact mechanics theory was developed. Compared to the existing ones in the literature, the proposed model takes into account the charge accumulation and transfer at the interfaces of finger and touch screen. The model is in good agreement with the experimental data and shows that the change in magnitude of electrostatic force is mainly due to the leakage of charge from the Stratum Corneum (SC) to the touch screen at frequencies lower than 250 Hz and electrical properties of the SC at frequencies higher than 250 Hz.

Surface haptic rendering of virtual shapes through change in surface temperature

Compared to relatively mature audio and video human-machine interfaces, providing accurate and immersive touch sensation remains a challenge owing to the substantial mechanical and neurophysical complexity of touch. Touch sensations during relative lateral motion between a skin-screen interface are largely dictated by interfacial friction, so controlling interfacial friction has the potential for realistic mimicry of surface texture, shape, and material composition. In this work, we show a large modulation of finger friction by locally changing surface temperature. Experiments showed that finger friction can be increased by ~50% with a surface temperature increase from 23° to 42°C, which was attributed to the temperature dependence of the viscoelasticity and the moisture level of human skin. Rendering virtual features, including zoning and bump(s), without thermal perception was further demonstrated with surface temperature modulation. This method of modulating finger friction has potential applications in gaming, virtual and augmented reality, and touchscreen human-machine interaction.

General theory of electroadhesion

We present a general theory of electroadhesion assuming layered materials with finite electric conductivity and an air gap resulting from interfacial surface roughness. The theory reduces to the results derived in Persson (2018J. Chem. Phys.148144701) in the appropriate limits. We present numerical results to illustrate the theory.

Nanotexture Shape and Surface Energy Impact on Electroadhesive Human-Machine Interface Performance

With the ubiquity of touch screens and the commercialization of electroadhesion-based surface haptic devices, modeling tools that capture the multiphysical phenomena within the finger-device interface and their interaction are critical to design devices that achieve higher performance and reliability at lower cost. While electroadhesion has successfully demonstrated the capability to change tactile perception through friction modulation, the mechanism of electroadhesion in the finger-device interface is still unclear, partly due to the complex interfacial physics including contact deformation, capillary formation, electric field, and their complicated coupling effects that have not been addressed comprehensively. A multiphysics model is presented here to predict the friction force for finger-surface tactile interactions at the nanoscale. The nanoscopic multiphysical phenomena are coupled to study the impacts of nanotexture and surface energy in the touch interface. With macroscopic friction force measurements as verification, the model is further used to propose textures that have maximum electroadhesion effect and minimum sensitivity to relative humidity and user perspiration rate. This model can guide the performance improvement of future electroadhesion-based surface haptic devices and other touch-based human-machine interfaces.