HapTex: A Database of Fabric Textures for Surface Tactile Display

Understanding physical properties of real-world haptic interaction is fundamental to create realistic virtual textures. Existing databases on haptic texture information are mainly constructed based on tool-surface interaction, which might be inappropriate to reveal the mechanical behavior of finger-texture interaction. In this paper, we introduce a haptic texture database of fabrics defined by friction force during the interaction between bare-finger and real-fabric. The database includes the friction force, the normal force applied by the fingertip, friction coefficient, displacement and velocity of the fingertip. These data were acquired when sliding a fingertip across 120 kinds of fabrics. We illustrate the application of the database through one example of haptic texture modeling and rendering, which allows users to feel virtual haptic texture on an electrostatic tactile display. In the end, we envision and exploit several potential applications for the database. The database is available online for free access and use by the research community.