ArrayTac: A Closed-Loop Piezoelectric Tactile Platform for Continuously Tunable Rendering of Shape, Stiffness, and Friction

Abstract

Human touch depends on the integration of shape, stiffness, and friction, yet existing tactile displays cannot render these cues together as continuously tunable, high-fidelity signals for intuitive perception. We present ArrayTac, a closed-loop piezoelectric tactile platform that simultaneously renders these three tactile dimensions with continuous tunability on a 4 by 4 actuator array. Each unit integrates a three-stage micro-lever amplifier with end-effector Hall-effect feedback, enabling up to 5 mm displacement, an array refresh rate greater than 500 Hz, and a closed-loop bandwidth of 123 Hz. In psychophysical experiments, naive participants identified three-dimensional shapes and distinguished multiple stiffness and friction levels through touch alone without training. We further demonstrate image-to-touch rendering from an RGB image and remote palpation of a medical-grade breast tumor phantom across a distance of more than 1,000 km, in which all 11 participants correctly identified the number and type of tumors with a sub-centimeter mean localization error. Together, these results establish ArrayTac as a programmable multidimensional tactile rendering platform that bridges digital representations, physical environments, and human tactile perception, enabling intuitive tactile communication between humans and machines.