Tactile evaluation based on human tactile perception mechanism

•This paper develops a novel tactile evaluation system for fabric/leather samples, which is inspired from human tactile perception mechanism.•The evaluation system has a rotary table and piezoelectric element used for vibration data acquisition.•Vibration data obtained were analyzed based on frequency characteristics of human mechanoreceptor.

This paper presents a novel tactile evaluation method. Although tactile sense is important information for end users to evaluate products, it has not been characterized quantitatively. In order to achieve quantitative characterization of tactile sense, this paper develops a novel tactile evaluation system based on human tactile perception mechanism. In the system, an object, which will be evaluated, is fixed on a sample table rotated with constant speed, and a piezoelectric element is placed in contact with the object surface with constant normal force. Then the piezoelectric element measures the vibration information during experiment. Comparing the vibration information with tactile receptors properties, we could estimate information we are getting during actively touching the object. Comparing the sensory evaluation results with the estimated information, the paper defines three tactile evaluation indexes relating to softness, roughness and preference of the target object.