Development of a friction modulation haptic interface based on thin-film AlN actuators

This article presents the design, modelling and characterisation of a transparent haptic interface based on friction variation. Using a glass plate with thin-film aluminium nitride (AlN) actuators, a compact, self-contained haptic system has been designed. An evaluation of the system has shown that it is possible to achieve a focused Lamb mode at 67.2 kHz. A displacement amplitude of $300 nm$ peak-to-peak was measured at $48~{V}_{pp}$ using a laser Doppler vibrometer. A sensation was felt by the finger at this low actuation voltage. The whole system is currently being integrated with its control electronics into a fully autonomous friction modulation haptic demonstrator.