Electro-Tactile Display with Tactile Primary
Color Approach
Hiroyuki Kajimoto

Naoki Kawakami

Susumu Tachi

Graduate School ofGraduate School ofGraduate School ofInformation Science and Technology Information Science and Technology Information Science and Technology
The University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo
Tokyo, JapanTokyo, JapanTokyo, Japan
Email: kaji@star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Email: kawakami@star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Email: tachi@star.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Abstract— An electro-tactile display is a tactile device that
directly activates nerve fibers within the skin by electricalcurrent from surface electrodes. It is superior to conventional
mechanical devices in many respects, such as smaller size, butsuffers the problem that the quality of the elicited sensationis quite ”electrical”. We focus on how to produce ”natural”
tactile sensation by electro-tactile display. Our approach is toindependently stimulate each type of mechanoreceptor, andcombine the stimuli to produce natural tactile sensation. We
call these stimuli “tactile primary colors” because they are
analogous to red, green, and blue, the primary colors forvision.

I. I NTRODUCTION
Electrical stimulation is superior to conventional tactile
displays in many respects. The display can be manufactured very small, thin, durable, energy efficient, and freefrom mechanical resonance. However, although there arequite extensive research efforts on this topic [1–3, 13, 29–32], there have been few attempts to display realistic tactile sensation with electrical stimulation. Existing electrotactile displays could be used as “symbol displays” suchas Braille, but they are still not able to convince us of
the future possibilities to connect us to a realistic tactile
world. Therefore, our primary motivation was to find ways
to present “natural” tactile sensation through electricalstimulation.
Looking back at other sensations, a common principle isthe selective stimulation of different types of receptors. In
vision, primary colors are chosen so that they stimulatedifferent types of cone cells in the retina. In auditory
sensations, arguments are done primarily in a frequency
domain, corresponding to different hair cells in a basilar
membrane. The design of these displays made use of thesecharacteristics to present reduced but sufficient information
about the surrounding world.
In the case of tactile display, there are four types ofmechanoreceptors in the human skin (Fig.1). They are theMerkel cell (SAI), Meissner corpuscle (RA), Ruffini ending(SAII), and Pacinian corpuscle (PC). As the population ofSAII is small in the human finger, we only consider RA,
SAI, and PC.
SAI is activated by static pressure, while RA and PC are
activated by time-varying vibrations. RA and PC’s resonant
frequencies are 30[Hz] and 250[Hz], respectively (Fig.2).

If we could selectively stimulate these receptors, we could
reconstruct any tactile sensation by combining them.
Groove(Fingerprint)
Sweat Duct

Stratum Corneum

Glandular Ridge
Dermal Papillae

Adhesive Ridge

Epidermis

SAII

DermisConnective Tissue

PC
SAI

RA

Fig. 1. Cross section of human skin. Merkel cell (SAI), Meissner corpuscle (RA), Ruffini ending (SAII), Pacinian corpuscle (PC). Reconstructedfrom [8, 35].

Our first goal is relatively simple: to find ways tostimulate each kind of mechanoreceptor separately (Fig.2).
With this in mind, we have proposed an electro-tactile
display for the fingerpad with three modes that stimulatedifferent types of receptors. We named these stimuli “tactile
primary colors” after the three primary colors in vision.
This paper is a quick review of our recent work onelectro-tactile display [15–20]. In Sec.II, our selective
stimulation problem is formulated and solved as an optimal
control problem. In Sec.III, our designed stimuli are evaluated with psychophysical experiments. In Sec.IV, some
applications that utilize the merits of the electro-tactile
display are proposed.
II. S ELECTIVE S TIMULATIONIn this section, we introducing the notion of “Activating
Function”, which roughly but sufficiently describes thenerve activity, in order to design an optimal stimulation
technique to selectively activate each tactile afferent.
A. Activating Function
We assume that a nerve is activated when the potential
difference of the nerve membrane Vm reaches a certain
threshold Vth . Then, electrical stimulation could be recognized as a mapping problem between a current source
distribution I(x, t) on the skin surface and Vm (r, t), where

µm
100

SAI
(Pressure)
Detection Threshold

RA
SAI

10

PC
1.0

RA
(Low Freq.
Vibration)

As we may consider the activity of the nerve membranepotential as a heat transfer equation, we can easily conclude
that to raise Vm (temperature), we must apply “heat”,
which is the right hand-side of the equation. λ2 ∂ 2 Ψ/τ ∂r2
is the nerve specific term and ∂ 2 Ψ/∂r2 is called the“Activating Function”(AF) [24, 25]．
∂2Ψ
(2)
∂r2
Next, we calculate Ψ for a single electrode on skinsurface.
For simplicity, we consider the 2D case with a uniform
infinite space with pure resistance (Fig.4). The electric
potential Ψ is obtained by an integral of the current density
as follows:Ψ(x, y) = − EdR = −
iρdR
(3)
R

−ρI log(R)
I
ρdR =
(4)
= −
2π
R 2πR
AF =

PC
(High Freq.
Vibration)
0.1
1

10
100
Frequency of Mechanical Stimulation(Using Sine Wave)

1000
Hz

Fig. 2. Tactile primary color approach and detection threshold of SAI,
RA and PC when mechanical stimulation (sine wave) is applied on theskin surface. Reconstructed from [12]x and r are coordinates along the skin surface and nerve
fiber and t represents time.

where
i is the current density, ρ is the resistivity, and R =
x2 + y 2 is the distance between electrode 1 and node n.

Current Source (point)

Skin Surface

I

Nerve FiberΨ(r,t)Im(r,t)Gm

Vm

GV(r,t)xCm

OutsideSkin Surface

Membranceρ :resistivity

First, we model the nerve axon (Fig. 3) [21]. The
membrane is expressed by a membrane capacitance (Cm ),membrane conductance (Gm ) and internal conductance(G).
Let the electric potential outside and inside the membranebe Ψ(r, t) and V (r, t), and the potential difference V − Ψ
be Vm (r, t). What we can do is to apply Ψ(r, t) andmanipulate Vm (r, t) indirectly.
The relationship between Ψ(r, t) and Vm (r, t) is asfollows [26, 27]
2

2

2

1
λ ∂ Vm∂Vm
λ ∂ Ψ+ Vm =
+
(1)
τ ∂r2
∂t
τ
τ ∂r2

where λ = G/Gm and τ = Cm /Gm .
We can regard this equation as a kind of heat-transfer
equation, where Vm is analogous to temperature, λ2 /τ isthe coefficient of thermal conductivity, and λ2 ∂ 2 Ψ/τ ∂r2
is the input heat. The third term in the left-hand side does
not appear in an ordinary heat-transfer equation, but canbe eliminated with a simple transformation. (See Appendix
A)
−

x

R

i=
y

InsideI(r,t)

Fig. 3. Current stimulation from the skin surface and an electrical modelof the nerve fiber.

2

ElectrodeI
2πR: Current Density

Nerve Axon

Fig. 4. Current stimulation from the skin surface. 2D single line electrodecase.

Now we calculate the Activating Function (AF). If theaxon lies in the x direction, since the AF is a second spatial
derivative of the external membrane potential,AF =∂ 2 Ψ(x, y)y 2 − x2
∂ 2 Ψ(x, y)
=
∝ 2
2
2
∂r
∂x
(x + y 2 )2(5)

Fig.5 is the plot of Eq.5.
B. Multi-Electrode Case
Eq.5 describes the case when a single electrode is used.
In general, electrodes are distributed on a skin surface, as
shown in Fig.6. Let the number of electrodes be M , andthe electrical current from ith electrode be Ii .
If we assume that each electrode is controlled byelectrical current, not electrical potential, then the outermembrane potential Ψ(r, t) is obtained by simply superpositioning the effect from each electrode. As AF is a second
time-derivative of Ψ, it is also calculated by superposition.
AF =

M

∂ 2 Ψi
i=1

∂r2

∝

M

i=1

Ii AFi ,(6)

Activating function for horizontal axon, cathodic current (2D)from the jth electrode. We call AF the AF matrix from now
on. Note that the AF matrix is constant if the positions ofelectrodes and nerves are fixed.

depth(mm)3.53Electrode
Skin

2.5

Depth
Nerve

2

C. Optimal Design of Selective Stimulation

Displacement

1.5
1
0.5
0

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

horizontal displacement(mm)Fig. 5. Activating function for horizontal axon. Cathodic(-) single current
case.

where AFi (r) is the AF derived from the unit electricalcurrent from the ith electrode.
From Eq.6, we see that the shape of the AF is determined by the electrical current from the surface electrodes.
Therefore, the design of electrical stimulation reduces tothe design of emitting proper electrical current Ii from thesurface electrodes. Let us introduce weight vector w, which
represents surface current distribution
w = [I1 , I2 , · · · IM ]T .

min(max(AFb w))
w

where

(7)

To further simplify the problem, we will discuss the casewith “myelinated” nerves, which is characterized by asurrounding insulator called the myelin sheath. As almost
the entire nerve membrane is insulated by the sheath, it
can only be electrically accessed by the Node of Ranvier,which is a small gap between each sheath. Therefore, only
these gaps need to be considered.
M Electrodes1

Our next step is to find the optimal weight vector w for
the selective stimulation.
The purpose of selective stimulation is simple. It is
to stimulate the desired nerve fibers without stimulating
undesired fibers. The simplest case is with two nerve fibers,a and b, in which fiber a should be activated, and fiber b
should be suppressed.
For each nerve, the AF is calculated by Eq.8. Recallingthe assumption that the nerve will be activated when themembrane potential difference reaches its threshold, weonly need to observe the maximum value of the AF to
determine the nerve activities.
Hence, the optimal selective stimulation method reduces
to minimizing the maximum AF of b, while the maximum
AF of a reaches the threshold. It is described as an
optimization problem as follows:2

M

N
Ranvier Nodes(12)

Eq.10 minimizes the maximum AF of nerve b, while
Eq.11 means that the maximum AF of nerve a is 1 andEq.12 guarantees that the sum of the electrical current is
0 to ensure safety.
The formulated problem is still difficult to solve becauseof the unusual condition in Eq.11. If we know at which
node the nerve a is activated, Eq.11 becomes an ordinary
matrix equation. Then,

where

Nerve Axon

(11)

i=1

w

Myelin Sheath2max(AFa w) = 1
NIi = 0min(max(AFb w))

Skin

1

(10)

AFpa w
N

Ii

(13)
=

1

(14)

=

0,

(15)

i=1

Fig. 6.

Multi electrodes and myelinated nerve configuration.

Fig.6 shows the situation. There are M electrodes andN Ranvier nodes. From the previous discussion, the AF
for each Ranvier Node is calculated as follows.
⎡

AF1
⎢ AF2
⎢
⎢ ..
⎣ .
AFN

⎤

⎡

AF1,1
⎥
⎥
⎢
..
=
⎥
⎣
.
⎦
AFN,1
= AFw

···
..
.
···

⎤

⎡

AF1,M
⎢
⎥⎢
..
⎦⎢
.
⎣
AFN,M

I1
I2
..
.

⎤
⎥
⎥
⎥(8)
⎦

IM
(9)

where AFi is the AF of the ith node and AFi,j is the
AF generated at the ith node from a unit electrical current

where AFpa is a partial matrix (vector) from AFa .
Eq.13 through Eq.15 is a typical linear programming
problem called the min-max problem. Therefore, the problem can be solved with ordinary mathematical software.
Assignment of the location of activity does lose generality. As we do not have a general method to predict thelocation of activity, we must try all candidate nodes throughbrute force. For each candidate, we solve the optimization
problem and obtain the maximum value of Ab w. Then,for all maximum values of Ab w, we obtain the minimum
value. This is the true minimum value, and we acquire thetrue optimal solution at the same time.
If there are three nerves a, b, c, and we wish to stimulate
only the nerve a, the problem is formulated as follows.

AFa w
N

Ii

=

1

=

(17)

0

(18)

i=1

Here, matrix [AFb , AFc ] is the concatenated matrix ofAF b and AF c .
D. Realization of Tactile Primary Colors with Electrical
Stimulation
Finally, we design the optimal stimulation methods to selectively stimulate tactile afferents. For an optimal design,
we need the nerve pathway of each nerve to calculate the
AF matrix.
Unfortunately, there are very few quantitative works on
nerve pathways so some assumptions are in order.
Tha RA axon branches from the superficial dermal
nerves and ascends to the epidermis. Therefore, we shallfirst assume that the RA axon in the fingerpad is perpendicular to the skin surface [6], which is especially true near
the surface.
The precise pathway of the SAI nerve is not well known,
though some drawings have indicated that it is horizontallyoriented [6]. We currently assume it to be horizontal.
From these observations, we model the nerve pathway
as in Fig.7. We place seven electrodes at 1.0[mm] intervals.
The SAI, RA and PC are located at 0.9, 0.7 and 2.0[mm]in depth. As the RA axon runs vertical to the skin surface,
we arranged multiple RA axons at 1.0[mm] intervals.
1.0mm
1Electrodes

7

Current Weight (Normalized)

where

RA mode
0.4

0.2

0.6
0.8

0
0.4

0.6

0.2

-0.2

0.4

0

-0.4

Anode

w

(16)

PC mode1
0.8

1Cathodemin(max([AFb , AFc ]w))

SAI mode
1.2

-0.2
0.2

-0.6
-0.4

0

-0.2

-0.8

-0.6

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

-0.8

Electrode Number

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

-1

1

Electrode Number

2

3

4

5

6

7

Electrode Number

Fig. 8. Optimal design of Activating Function. (Left) SAI mode. (Middle)
PC mode. (Right) RA mode. The horizontal axis denotes the electrodegeometry, and the vertical axis is the normalized electrode weight.

by a broadened cathodic weight. The difference between
these two types of receptors is depth within the skin.
If we add anodic current around a central cathodic
current, the AF approaches zero in the deeper part, so we
can stably stimulate a shallower region (Fig.9(a)). On thecontrary, if we add cathodic current around central cathodic
current, the size of the electrode virtually increases. Therefore, the rate of convergence decreases, and a deeper region
can also be stimulated (Fig.9(b)). We call these selective
stimulation schemes “depth-selective stimulation” (Fig.9).

Skin Surface
Shallow Axons
PC

ArrayedElectrodes(a) Shallower Region
Stimulation
CathodeAnodeSkin Surface

Activating Function

Shallow Axons(b) Deeper Region
Stimulation

PC

Fig. 9.
Depth-selective stimulation by weighted-array electrodes.
(a)Shallower-region stimulation. (b)Deeper-region stimulation. Activating
Function is shown for each

Skin
1

1

6

11

10

15

1.0mm

0.7mm

0.9mm

SAI
RA

PC

1

5

40

2.0mm
40

40

Node Interval = 0.4mm

Fig. 7. Electrodes and nerve placement for the design of the Activating
Function

As we saw in Eq.14, we must choose the location ofactivity for nerve a (stimulation nerve). In the following
results, we chose a node just beneath the central electrodeas an activated node.
Fig.8 shows the result of the selective stimulation of SAI,
PC and RA. We shall call them “SAI mode”, “PC mode”
and “RA mode”. The horizontal axis denotes the electrodegeometry and the vertical axis is the normalized electrodeweight. According to the standard notation of electricalstimulation, the positive side is cathode (-) and the negativeside is anode (+). These three modes are the realization oftactile primary colors by electrical stimulation.
Qualitative explanation of these results is as follows.
Comparing the SAI mode and PC mode, the SAI modeis characterized by a central cathodic weight and a neighboring anodic weight, while the PC mode is characterizedComparing the SAI mode and the RA mode, the polarity
is reversed. The difference between these two types ofreceptors is the orientation of nerves. Our assumption wasthat the SAI nerve lies horizontal to the skin surface, while
the RA nerve runs perpendicular to the skin.
Remember that the AF is a second spatial derivative of
the outer membrane potential along the nerve fiber. The
AF of horizontally oriented axons is d2 Ψ/dx2 , but that ofvertical axons is d2 Ψ/dy 2 .
From Gauss’s law(∆ψ = 0), d2 Ψ/dy 2 = −d2 Ψ/dx2
always holds true. Therefore, horizontal and vertical axons
can be separately stimulated by changing the polarity of theelectrodes. We call these two pairs of selective stimulation
schemes “orientation-selective stimulation” (Fig.10).
III. P SYCHOPHYSICAL E XPERIMENTIn this section, the proposed selective stimulation methods are evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively.
A. Experiment System
We constructed an experimental system shown in Fig.
11. Multiplying one channel high-speed wave signal byeight channel low speed weight signals, we obtained eightSkin Surface(a) Cathodic
Stimulation
Activating Function
Activated
Skin Surface(b) Anodic
Stimulation

Vertical Axons (RA)Horizontal Axons (SAI)

Fig. 10. Orientation-selective stimulation. (a)Cathodic-current stimulation. (b)Anodic-current stimulation. Activating Function is drawn.

synchronized waves. V-I converters were used to convert
them to current stimuli. Subjects put their fingers on anarray of electrodes. As the sum of the array weight is 0,
we do not need an additional ground electrode to release
current.
Arrays were composed of eight line electrodes that wereequally spaced. The distance between each electrode was
1.0[mm] and the electrode size was 0.5[mm] × 10[mm].
Electrical current from the central electrode ranged from0 to 2.0[mA], which is controlled by the subject using
keyboard. The current pulse width was fixed to 200[µs].
Electrodes Array
+150V

+
-

470Ω

5MΩ

-150V

Current
Monitor

V-I conversion unit

Voltage
Monitor50kΩ

Weights

AnalogMultiplier

Pulse Wave
PC

Fig. 11.

Fig. 12.

1) Pressure sensation in SAI mode: In SAI mode, whencurrent was gradually increased from 0, the sensation
changed as follows.
• At 0.2mA, a tiny tremoring sensation occurred.
• At 0.4mA, the subject felt pressure in the shape of thecentral electrode. As we used line electrodes, it was
like touching a knife-edge.
• At 0.6mA, a new sensation of vibration was evoked,
as well as pressure.
• More than 1.0mA current induced stronger vibratory
sensation and the pressure sensation was masked.
Stimulation pulse frequency varied from 10 to 200[Hz], but
the above observationwas not influenced by frequency. This
result supported our hypothesis that our SAI mode selectively stimulated SAI receptors, because SAI is responsible
for pressure sensation [11, 12, 23, 34].
Vibratory sensation evoked after pressure might havebeen caused by RA and PC receptors. The result suggeststhat the range of current amplitude in which SAI is
selectively stimulated is quite narrow.
2) Sensation of soft material in SAI mode: When pressure sensation was stably presented in SAI mode, thesubject felt a hard bump. When the subject moved hisor her finger up and down slightly, the feeling of bumpsuddenly changed to that of a soft elastic rod (Fig.13).
This qualitative change was quite dramatic, and somesubjects expressed that the electrode moved down like apush button.
This phenomenon is explained as follows. Many works
on nerve information coding have suggested that the SAI
cell encodes pressure through firing frequency [12]. If one
touches a hard object, the finger motion directly affects
the pressure inside the skin, so that the firing frequencychanges. On the contrary, if one touches a soft material, thefinger motion doesn’t affect pressure as much and hence,
firing frequency does not change.
In our case, we did not change the stimulating frequency
during finger motion. Therefore, the subject perceived thatthe touched object was made of soft material.

System configuration [17].

1D array of electrodes.

B. Qualitative Evaluation
During the experiment, some qualitative phenomena
were found that seem to support our hypothesis that eachmode is stimulating the desired mechanoreceptor’s fibers.

StaticChange pressure

Hard bump

Elastic rod?!

Fig. 13. SAI mode experiment. Subject felt a hard bump at first, but
upon moving the finger slightly up and down, it changed dramatically toan elastic rod, even though contacting area did not change.

3) Vibratory sensation in RA mode: In RA mode, thesubject felt a stable vibratory sensation. When the pulse
frequency was less than 100 [Hz], the elicited sensation
was quite similar to that of touching a vibrating speakercone. This result supported our hypothesis that our RAmode selectively stimulated RA receptors, since RA is
responsible for vibratory sensation.
4) Sensation shift phenomenon in PC mode: In PC
mode, one interesting phenomenon was observed. The
subject felt pure vibration, and the sensation was elicited
not just on the central electrode, but always shifted 1-3[mm] with respect to the fingertip (Fig.14).
This phenomenon reminds us of the fact that the current
doesn’t stimulate the mechanoreceptor itself, but rather
stimulates the nerve axon that is connected to the receptor.
However, our brain mistakes the receptor at the tip of
the axon as activated, which would explain the sensation
shift phenomenon. Since the Pacinian corpuscle resides ina deeper region than other receptors, this sensation shift
became easier to observe.
Electrodes
Sensation Point

Nerve Bundle

Corpuscle

Spike Elicited Point
Bottom View

Side View

Fig. 14.
Sensation shift phenomenon. Though the nerve axon is
stimulated, the evoked sensation point is shifted 1-3 [mm] along thefingertip.

5) Focused Sensation by Anodic Stimulation: Let us
examine the sensation shift phenomenon more deeply. As
we have seen in Sec.II-D, cathodic current activates nerveaxons parallel to the skin surface (Fig.15 Left). Therefore,
there is always some ”gap” between the stimulation point(nerve axon) and the sensation point(mechanoreceptor).
Accumulation of this gap results in blurred, or unfocusedsensation. As conventional electrical stimulation always
used cathodic current, its resolution was significantly lower
than that of mechanical stimulation [9, 10].
On the contrary, as we have seen in Sec.III-B.5, if we apply anodic current, we can selectively stimulate “vertical”
nerves (Fig.15 Right). Although there is still a gap between
the stimulation point and the sensation point, the gap isvertical, so its influence on the sensation is negligible. As
a result, an acute tactile image should be obtained. Thisanodic stimulation was already introduced as the RA mode.
Kaczmarek has observed that an anodic pulse generated
more acute sensation than cathodic stimulation [14]. Notethat this phenomenon was observed only at the fingertip,
where the RA nerve runs perpendicular to the skin surface.
C. Selectivity Evaluation Between Vibration Sensitive Receptors
The following is a quantitative evaluation of selective
stimulation through psychophysical experiment. Here wetreated two types of vibration sensitive receptors, RA andPC.
RA reacts to low frequency vibration (20-70[Hz]), witha resonant frequency of about 30[Hz]. PC reacts to highCathodic Stimulation

Anodic Stimulation

Sensation Point

Sensation Shift

Stimulation Point

Fig. 15. Gap between stimulation point and mechanoreceptor. (Left)
Cathodic stimulation. (Right) Anodic stimulation, or RA mode [18]frequency vibration (60-800[Hz]), with a resonant frequency of about 250[Hz] (Fig.2). Previous psychophysicalexperiments showed that in all frequency ranges, about a
20% frequency difference could be discriminated.
In mechanical vibration, nerves that are connected to thereceptors generate electrical pulses at the same frequency
as the vibration [35]. Therefore, we supposed tha conversely, if electrical pulses are applied, participants should
perceive the pulse train as mechanical vibration with thesame frequency, which should result in the same frequency
discrimination threshold.
First, we measured the frequency discrimination threshold in RA mode with a constant method.
Four participants, three males and one female between
25 and 35 years old, were asked to place their finger on theconventional concentric electrodes. The central electrodewas 1.0[mm] in diameter, and the inner diameter of theouter electrode was 6.0[mm]. Frequencies of standard
stimulation were 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75[Hz]. The comparison frequency ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 times the standard
frequency. For each stimulation pair, subjects were asked
to answer which frequency was higher (forced choice)
10 times. After fitting the answer rate with the cumulative density function, we acquired a 75% discriminationthreshold. To save experiment time, for some standard
frequencies, comparison frequencies ranged from 1.0 to
2.0 times the standard frequency, and only upper thresholds
were obtained.
The pulse amplitude was about 2.4[mA], and the pulse
width was 0.2[ms]. During the experiment, subjects controlled pulse amplitude freely so that the elicited sensation
was always clear.
Results are shown in Fig.16. For frequencies of 15[Hz]through 45[Hz], the threshold was lower than 20%, whichis quite similar to mechanical stimulation. However, at
60[Hz], the threshold suddenly increased and at 75[Hz],the threshold reached 0.7, which means that subjects could
not interpret 130[Hz] stimulation to be higher than 75[Hz].
This puzzling result is explained by assuming that the
RA is selectively stimulated. Remember that in mechanicalstimulation, 15[Hz] through 45[Hz] are the frequencies
where only RA, not PC is activated (Fig.2). Therefore,
there is no difference between mechanical and electricalstimulation from the receptor’s viewpoint. However, from60[Hz] or more, the PC is also activated in mechanicalstimulation. At that frequency, it is quite natural to conclude that we discern frequency by observing the activity
ratio of both the RA and PC.

Standard Frequency =30

1

1

0.5

0.5

0

0
10

20

30

20

40

Standard Frequency =45

Standard Frequency =60

1

1

60

Fig. 17.
0.5

0.5

0

0

Ring electrode to stimulate all nerves in the finger

1

45

50

55

60

65

60

70

80

90

Standard Frequency =75
Fitted Curve1

75% line
0.5
25% line
75% Discrimination
Threshold

0
80

90

100

110
Comparison Frequency (Hz)75% Threshold (Normalized)

Answer Rate : "Comparison Frequency is Higher Than Standard Frequency"

Standard Frequency =15

PC mode0.8

RA mode
0.6

0.4

0.2

Standard Frequency
0

0.7

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Standard Frequency (Hz)75% Threshold (Normalized)

0.6

Fig. 18. 75% discrimination threshold of PC mode. Results of RA mode
are also shown.

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Standard Frequency (Hz)Fig. 16. (Top) Frequency discrimination test result with constant method
in RA mode electrical stimulation. (Bottom)75% discrimination threshold.

However, in RA mode electrical stimulation, we assumed that only RA corpuscles are activated even athigh frequency. This situation should never happen inmechanical stimulation. Hence, the participants could notdiscern the frequency of the stimulation. From anotherviewpoint, this result supported our hypothesis that RA
mode selectively stimulated RA receptors.
1) Verification of the hypothesis by deep tissue stimulation: If the above-mentioned rationale is true, the frequency discrimination threshold should decrease if we also
stimulate the PC. This is achieved in PC mode, which was
performed by using a larger electrode. Fig.17 shows thelarge electrode we used to stimulate all nerves in the finger.
The result is shown in Fig.18. The discrimination threshold from 60[Hz] to 90 [Hz] decreased dramatically, which
supported our hypothesis that the PC was not stimulated
in RA mode.
However, at more than 100[Hz], the discriminationthreshold of PC mode increased. This result is also explained by comparing mechanical and electrical stimulation. For mechanical stimulation, at higher than 100[Hz],the PC is much more activated than the RA (Fig.2).
However, in electrical stimulation, the RA are always more
activated than the PC because the RA resides in a shallower
region, resulting in a misinterpretation of the stimulation
frequency.
IV. A PPLICATIONIn this section, after presenting basic extensions ofelectro-tactile display, we show two practical applications,the electric mouse and SmartTouch.
A. Scanning
In mechanical tactile displays with matrix pins, a surface
can easily be represented by the simultaneous movementof pins. However, in our electrocutaneous display, thesituation is complicated by the interference of the current
between electrodes.
Therefore, we employed a method of time-division
scanning, as shown in Fig.19(Top). Each electrode takes
the following three states: cathode, anode and insulated.
Note that numerous electrodes are used simultaneously topresent a single point stimulus.
Fig.19(Middle) and (Bottom) show the simple switching circuit to realize the three states. Each electrode isconnected to two switch pairs, the top switch and bottom
switch. If the top switch is on and the bottom switch isoff, the electrode works as anode. If the top switch is off
and the bottom switch is on, it works as cathode. If bothswitches are off, the electrode is insulated. Finally, if bothswitches are on, the whole system is short-circuited andunnecessary accumulated electric charge is released [33].

Cathode

Anode

Insulated

Time

Pulse Width : 200µs
Scan Interval : ~0.5ms
O#

8
WU&#

5VKOWNCVKPI2WNUG5KIPCN#PCNQIEJDKV

8+%QPXGTVGTWU

mild amount of electricity, they are often shocked by asudden and unexpected sensation from simply touching thestimulation source.
Therefore, our solution is as follows: by setting a force
sensor (load cell) under the electrodes, we measure thefinger pressure. The applied pulse height or width is set
as a monotonically increasing function (possibly linear, or
logarithmic) of this pressure. We can therefore control theamount of sensation by regulating finger pressure.
C. Electric Mouse&+1
5YKVEJ101((5KIPCN EJ
2%

%WTTGPV2CVJ

'NGEVTQFGU
7RRGT5YKVEJ=101((1((1((?
.QYGT5YKVEJ=1((101010?

































The first application is an electric mouse, in whichelectrodes are mounted on an ordinary mouse interface(Fig.20). 64 electrodes with 1.0[mm] in diameter, 2.0[mm]interval are arranged to cover the index finger. A force
sensor under the electrode array measures finger pressure.
According to the mouse motion, the stimulation patternis changed so that the subject feels the existence of astationary object under the skin. Stimulation frequency
is set as a function of mouse speed, so that the spatial
frequency of the virtual surface, or so-called ”texture” ispresented.

'NGEVTQFG#PQFG#NNVJGQVJGTGNGEVTQFGU%CVJQFG








Fig. 19. Scanning mechanism. (Top) Scanning procedure in SAI mode.
Each electrode takes the following three states: cathode, anode andinsulated. (Middle) Simple switching circuits to realize three states foreach electrode. (Bottom) Example of switch state and current path.

B. Force Feedback
One critical problem to solve in electro-tactile display
is the unstable relationship between the amount of current
and the generated sensation. This problem has two aspects.
One is that the amount of generated sensation changes
over time due to deviation in electrical impedance. Many
previous works dealt with this problem. One successful
result was obtained by Tachi [32], who suggested using
energy (current times voltage) as a control parameter.
The other aspect of this problem is more serious. A
sudden change of sensation gives an invasive impression,or even fear. This is a typical phenomenon in electricalstimulation.
Why do we feel ”invaded” by electrical, but not mechanical stimulation? In mechanical stimulation, we receive
the same amount of pain or more if the object we touch
is sharp, such as a needle or razor, but people are nevershocked by them.
Furthermore, we handle such objects in daily life. Thisimplies that we have a skill to control the amount of skinsensation through force application. However, in the caseof electrical stimulation, the skin sensation is unrelated toforce, so although people might not be harmed by theFig. 20. Electric Mouse. 64electrodes, 2.0mm interval.(Top) Whole view
(Bottom Left) Front view. (Bottom Right) Load cell to measure finger
pressure.

D. SmartTouch:A new interface to touch the real world
The second application is named SmartTouch, which isa new tactile interface to enhance tactile sensation.
The interface is essentially composed of a tactile display
and a sensor, both mounted on the skin. When contacting
an object, information acquired by the sensor is translated
into tactile sensation by a tactile display. Thus, the person
not only can make physical contact with the object, but also

”touch” surface information of any modality. SmartTouch
ultimately serves as a new functional layer of the skin(Fig.21).

SensorInformation
Tactile Display

Skin

Receptor

Fig. 21. SmartTouch: A new functional layer of the skin composed ofa sensor and a tactile display [16].

Fig.22 depicts one realization of SmartTouch. It is composed of three layers. The first layer has electrodes on thefront side of a thin plate, the second has optical sensors on
the reverse side of the plate, and the third is a thin force
sensor between the other two layers.

Fig. 22.
One realization of SmartTouch with optical sensors. (Left
Top)Electrodes on top surface. (Right Top)Optical Sensors on bottom
surface. (Left Bottom) Usage. (Right Bottom) Electrical Circuit.

Visual images captured by the sensor are translated
into tactile information, and displayed through electricalstimulation. As the system facilitates the recognition of
printed materials through tactile sense, it could be applied
as a Braille display for the visually impaired. The total
thickness of the system is 5.0[mm].
There have been extensive research efforts on visualto-tactile conversion systems. Bliss [4, 5] has developed
the first converter system, while Collins [7] employedelectrical and mechanical stimulation at the skin of the

back. The representative commercial product Optacon [28]was developed in 1960s using a video camera and amatrix of vibrating pins. However, their aim was for avisually impaired person to read printed material, but not
to ”augment” the real world. Specifically, in their system,
the participant must have a video camera in one hand andtactile information is displayed onto the other hand. On thecontrary, in our system, the optical sensor and the tactile
display are located at practically the same place, and workin combination as a new skin ”receptor”.
Our goal for SmartTouch is to achieve a very thin display
and sensor directly mounted on the skin to serve as a new
functional layer so that the system can be worn as an
unconscious daily interface. If we could “print” electrodeson the skin directly by using conductive ink or a disposable
tattoo, we could reduce the thickness of the display tovirtually zero.
V. C ONCLUSION AND F UTURE W ORK
In this paper, we showed the basic principles of electrotactile display and its typical application.
In Sec.II, after introducing the notion of Activating
Function, selective stimulation was formulated as a linear
programming problem, which gave us an optimal weightpattern of electrodes. Tactile primary colors with electrotactile display were designed using thie method, named RA
mode, SAI mode and PC mode.
In Sec.III, the designed tactile primary colors were evaluated through psychophysical experiments. The generated
sensations in each mode agreed well with our hypothesisthat the desired mechanoreceptor’s nerves are selectively
activated. We showed one quantitative evaluation of RA
mode using a frequency discrimination test. Of course, if
direct measurement of nerve activity is possible, it would
be the most direct evidence of selective stimulation. We
are currently exploring this possibility [22].
In Sec.IV, we showed some applications. Until now,there were only two types of applications for tactile display.
One is a Braille system for the visually impaired, andthe other is a haptic device that adds realism to thevirtual world by obtaining tactile textures. What we try
to emphasize with SmartTouch is that when sensor andtactile displays are combined, tactile display may be used
to augment the real world.
We also showed the fundamental limitation of electrotactile displays, which is caused by the fact that we cannot
selectively stimulate PC, which resides in the deeper tissue,
because the shallow part is inevitably co-activated. This
limitation was observed as the limitation of frequency
perception, in which pulses with more than 100[Hz] were
not interpreted correctly. This limitation was already reported in the 1970’s [31], although there has never been
an explanation based on receptor activity.
To overcome this limitation, we are considering a hybrid
method of applying mechanical and electrical stimulation
simultaneously. Mechanical stimulation aims to selectively
stimulate PCs, while electrical stimulation targets RA corpuscles. Selective stimulation of the PC with a mechanicalvibrator is not so difficult, because the PC has the highest
resonant frequency (about 250[Hz]) of all receptors. At thesame time, the density of PC’s in the skin is relatively
low. Therefore, the only requirement for PC selective
stimulation is to fabricate a sparse mechanical vibrator
matrix and vibrate it at high frequency. On the contrary, theRA is densely populated (1[mm-2]), and the fabrication ofan appropriately dense display with electrodes is far morepractical than using mechanical stimulators.
R EFERENCES[1] G. L. Aiello. Multidimensional electrocutaneous stimulation. IEEE
Trans. Rehabil. Eng., 6(1):95–101, Mar. 1998.
[2] A. B. Anani, K. Ikeda, and L. M. Korner. Human ability to discriminate various parameters in afferent electrical nerve stimulation
with particular reference to prostheses sensory feedback. Med. Biol.
Eng. Compt., pages 363–372, Jul. 1977.
[3] P. J. Blamey and G. M. Clark. Psychophysical studies relevant to
the design of a digital electrotactile speech processor. J. Acoust.
Soc. Am, 82:116–125, 1987.
[4] J. C. Bliss. A relatively high-resolution reading aid for the blind.
IEEE Trans. Man-Machine Systems, MMS-10(1):1–9, Mar. 1969.
[5] J. C. Bliss, M. H. Katcher, C. H. Rogers, and R. P. Shepard. Opticalto-tactile image conversion for the blind. IEEE Trans. Man-Machine
Systems, MMS-11(1):58–65, Mar. 1970.
[6] N. Cauna and G. Mannan. Organization and development of thepreterminal nerve pattern in the palmar digital tissues of man. J.
Comp. Neur., 117:309–28, 1961.
[7] C. C. Collins. Tactile television - mechanical and electrical image
projection. IEEE Trans. Man-Machine Systems, MMS-11(1):65–71,
Mar. 1970.
[8] Z. Halata. The mechanoreceptors of the mammalian skin ultrastructure and morphological classification. Springer-Verlag, 1975.
[9] A. Higashiyama and M. Hayashi. Localization of electrocutaneous
stimuli on the fingers and forearm: Effects of electrode configuration
and body axis. Perception & Psychophysics, 54(1):108–120, 1993.
[10] A. Higashiyama and G. B. Rollman. Perceived locus and intensity ofelectrocutaneous stimulation. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., 38(7):679–
686, Jul. 1991.
[11] A. Iggo. The structure and function of a slowly adapting touch
corpuscle in hairy skin. J.Physiol., 200:763–796, 1969.
[12] A. Iggo. Sensory receptors in the skin of mammals and their sensory
functions. Rev. Neurol.(Paris), 141(10):599–613, 1985.
[13] K. A. Kaczmarek. Electrotactile and vibrotactile displays for sensory
substitution systems. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., 38:1–16, Jan. 1991.
[14] K. A. Kaczmarek, M. E. Tyler, and P. Bach y Rita. Electrotactile
haptic display on the fingertips: Preliminary results. In Proc. 16th
Annu. Int. Conf. IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Soc., pages 940–941, 1994.
[15] H. Kajimoto, M. Inami, N. Kawakami, and S. Tachi. Smarttouch- augmentation of skin sensation with electrocutaneous display. In
Proc. of 11th Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, Los Angeles, Mar. 2003.
[16] H. Kajimoto, M. Inamii, N. Kawakami, and S. Tachi. Smarttouch:Electric skin to touch the untouchable. IEEE Computer Graphics& Applications, Jan-Feb:36–43, 2004.
[17] H. Kajimoto, N. Kawakami, T. Maeda, and S. Tachi. Tactile feeling
display using functional electrical stimulation. In Proc. of The 9th
Int. Conf. on Artificial reality and Telexistence, pages 107–114, Dec.
1999 http://www.ic-at.org.
[18] H. Kajimoto, N. Kawakami, T. Maeda, and S. Tachi. Electro-tactile
display with force feedback. In Proc. World Multiconference on
Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics(SCI2001), volume XI, pages
95–99, Jul. 2001.
[19] H. Kajimoto, N. Kawakami, and S. Tachi. Optimal design method
for selective nerve stimulation and its application to electrocutaneous display. In Proc. of Tenth Symposium on Haptic Interfaces
for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, Orlando, pages
303–310, Mar. 2002.
[20] H. Kajimoto, N. Kawakami, and S. Tachi. Psychophysical evaluationof receptor selectivity in electro-tactile display. In Proc. of 13th
International Symposium on Measurement and Control in Robotics(ISMCR),, pages 83–86, 2003.

[21] D. R. McNeal. Analysis of a model for excitation of myelinatednerve. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng, BME-23(4):329–337, Jul. 1976.
[22] M. Nakatani, H. Kajimoto, T. Suzuki, S. Tachi, K. Mabuchi, and
M. Kunimoto. Analysis of sensory nerve activity evoked byelectrocutaneous stimulation. In Proc. of the 16th Annual Meetingof Japan Microneurography Society, page 1, 2003.
[23] J. Ochoa and E. Torebjork. Sensations evoked by intraneural
microstimulation of single mechanoreceptor units innervating thehuman hand. J.Physiol., 342:633–654, 1983.
[24] F. Rattay. Electrical Nerve Stimulation. Springer-Verlag, 1990.
[25] F. Rattay. Modeling axon membranes for functional electricalstimulation. IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., 40(12):1201–1209, Dec.
1993.
[26] J. T. Rubinstein. Analytical theory for extracellular electricalstimulation of nerve with focal electrodes, ii passive myelinatedaxon. Biophys.J., 60:538–555, Sep. 1991.
[27] J. T. Rubinstein and F. A. Spelman. Analytical theory for extracellular electrical stimulation of nerve with focal electrodes, i passive
unmyelinated axon. Biophys.J., 54:975–981, Dec. 1988.
[28] D. Stein.
The optacon: Past, present, and future.
In
http://www.nfb.org/bm/bm98/bm980506.htm.
[29] A. Y. J. Szeto. Relationship between pulse rate and pulse width fora constant-intensity level of electrocutaneous stimulation. Annals ofBiomedical Engineering, 13:373–383, 1985.
[30] A. Y. J. Szeto, J. Lyman, and R. E. Prior. Electrocutaneous
pulse rate and pulse width psychometric functions for sensory
communications. Human Factors, 21(2):241–249, 1979.
[31] A. Y. J. Szeto and F. A. Saunders. Electrocutaneous stimulation for
sensory communication in rehabilitation engineering. IEEE Trans.
Biomed. Eng., 29(4):300–308, Apr. 1982.
[32] S. Tachi, K. Tanie, K. Komoriya, and M. Abe. Electrocutaneouscommunication in a guide dog robot(meldog). IEEE Trans. Biomed.
Eng., BME-32(7):461–469, Jul. 1985.
[33] H. Takahashi, H. Kajimoto, N. Kawakami, and S. Tachi. Electrotactile display with localized high-speed switching. In Proc. of the
12th Int. Conf. on Artificial reality and Telexistence, pages 10–15,
Dec. 2002 http://www.ic-at.org.
[34] A. B. Vallbo. Sensations evoked from the glabrous skin of thehuman hand by electrical stimulation of unitary mechanoseisitiveafferents. Brain Research, 215:359–363, 1981.
[35] A. B. Vallbo and R. S. Johansson. Properties of cutaneous
mechanoreceptors in the human hand related to touch sensation.
Human Neurobiology, 3:3–14, 1984.

A PPENDIX
A. Understanding nerve activity as a heat transfer function
The basic heat transfer equation is∂2u∂u= κ 2.
(19)∂t∂x
We now transform Eq.1 to Eq. 19. Introducing variable Wt(20)
Vm = exp(− )W,τ
Temporal and spatial differential of Vm is represented as
∂Vm
t
t
t ∂W
= − exp(− )W + exp(− )
(21)
∂t
τ
τ
τ ∂t
2
2
∂ Vm
t ∂ W
= exp(− )
.
(22)
2
∂x
τ ∂x2
Substituting into Eq. 1, we obtaint
λ2 ∂ 2 W
λ2 ∂ 2 Ψ∂Wexp(− )(−
)
=
+
.
(23)
τ
τ ∂x2
∂t
τ ∂x2
If there is no stimulation, the right-hand side vanishes.
Therefore,
λ2 ∂ 2 W
∂W
=
.
(24)
∂t
τ ∂x2
This is the ordinary heat-transfer equation.