State of the art friction modulating touchscreens have high temporal bandwidth and high spatial sensing resolution, meaning they can rapidly change friction forces as a function of your precise finger location.

Resolution of forces across the fingerpad itself, however, is one dimensional; the entire finger feels one friction state at any given moment in time.

We are observing fingerpad deformation patterns when interacting with high resolution patterns of distributed friction across a surface. We aim to determine whether and how higher resolution of friction actuation could broaden the range of interactive forces on a flat touchscreen surface.