Development of soft-actuator-based wearable tactile display

As a major human sensory function, the implementation of the tactile sensation for the human-machine interface has been one of the core research interests for long time. In this paper, an innovative tactile display device based on the soft actuator technology is presented. Using electroactive polymer for the construction of the tactile display device, it can provide stimulation on the human skin without any additional electromechanical transmission. Softness and flexibility of the device structure, ease of fabrication, possibility for miniaturization, and low cost for mass production are the representative benefits of the presented device. Especially, the device application is open to many different purposes since the flexible structure offers the excellent adaptability to any contour of the human body. To prove its feasibility, a wearable device that can fit to the distal part of the human finger is presented and its performance is evaluated, experimentally.