This article addresses the problem of producing independent tactile stimuli to multiple fingers exploring a transparent solid surface without the need to track their positions. To this end, wave time-reversal was applied to re-focus displacement impulses in time and in space at one or several locations in a thin glass plate. This result was achieved using ultrasonic bending waves produced by a set of lamellar piezoelectric actuators bonded at the periphery of the plate. Starting from first principles, the relations linking implementation parameters to the performance of the display are developed. The mechanical design of the display, signal processing, and driving electronics are described. A set of engineering tradeoffs are made explicit and used for the design of a mock up device comprising a glass plate 148 × 210 × 0.5 mm (3). Tests indicate that a peak amplitude of 7 μm confined to a 20 mm (2) region could be obtained for an average power consumption of 45 mW. Simultaneous focusing at several locations was successfully achieved. We showed that a lumped-mass model for the fingertip can effectively describe the effect of an actual fingertip load at the focus point. Lastly, we elucidated a likely stimulation mechanism that involves the transient decoupling of the finger skin from the plate surface. This phenomenon explains the observed tactile effect.

Fluctuations of the frictional force arising from the stroke of a finger against flat and sinusoidal surfaces are studied. A custommade high-resolution friction force sensor, able to resolve millinewton forces, was used to record those fluctuations as well as the net, low-frequency components of the interaction force. Measurements show that the fluctuations of the sliding force are highly non-stationary. Despite their randomness, force spectra averages reveal regularities. With a smooth, flat, but not mirror-finish, surface the background noise follows a 1/ f trend. Recordings made with pure-tone sinusoidal gratings reveal complexities in the interaction between a finger and a surface. The fundamental frequency is driven by the periodicity of the gratings and harmonics follow a non-integer power-law decay that suggests strong nonlinearities in the fingertip interaction. The results are consistent with the existence of a multiplicity of simultaneous and rapid stick-slip relaxation oscillations. Results have implications for high fidelity haptic rendering and biotribology.