Presentation of a Tracing Sensation by Means of Rotation Stimuli*

Tracing sensation, which is associated with finger's tracing movement on an object, is important to discriminate surface texture and frictional cues. Despite many attempts to render realistic tracing sensation through real tracing movement of a plate or a roller, these methods often require the use of larger devices. On the other hand, previous research has shown that it is difficult to perceive the direction of lateral fingertip skin deformation, suggesting that accurate reproduction of horizontal skin deformation may not be crucial. With this in mind, this study presents a novel approach in which a disk of fingertip size is rotated with the finger in contact with the center of the disk to present a tracing sensation. The effectiveness of the presented method was confirmed, with results indicating its ability to provide a realistic tracing sensation continuously and in any direction. In addition, we investigated the effect of reversal movements in the direction of rotation on the realism of the tracing sensation, with the results suggesting that such movements may be particularly effective in tracing rough textures.