Anisotropic Haptic Texture of Buttons for User Interfaces

Abstract

In recent years, we have gained access to an increasing number of aesthetical devices with buttons having similar haptic textures, thus enabling users to distinguish between the buttons using haptic sense. Haptic cues, in addition to visual cues, could therefore help the user to understand the functions of the buttons. However, the users tend to grope the buttons and attempt to push them without looking, although the visual cues were typically attached to the buttons. In this study, we propose the use of anisotropic haptic texture as a haptic cue for paired buttons, because it is possible to attach the haptic texture, such as sharkskin, to existing buttons, without the need for reconstruction. In this regard, our previous study evaluated and confirmed the effectiveness with respect to young individuals; however, the effectiveness with respect to elderly users has not yet been considered. Therefore, herein, the effectiveness was evaluated for elderly participants and assessed using experiments. The results revealed the ineffectiveness of anisotropic haptic texture as a cue for the appropriate button choice. Considering the factor of erroneous choices made by the elderly, it is discovered that their frictional images vary due to perception issues. Thus, we created a standard for the recognition of anisotropic haptic texture with respect to the creation of frictional images. To clarify the effectiveness of the proposed method, an evaluation experiment was conducted, and the validity results for elderly people were obtained.