Haptic Fingerprint

Haptic finger­print — what is it?


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Within product devel­opment and planning, the so-​​called haptic finger­print plays a supporting role. But what is it about …in the first place?
Based on the assumption that our sense of touch, i.e. haptics, plays a decisive role of the purchase decision, our research has already been influ­enced for many years to create an objec­ti­fiable haptic finger­print that can be measurable. This technical devel­opment intro­duced us to some challenges. Here we would like to try to structure and compre­hen­sible our steps to an extremely satis­fying result.
Since every surface can feel different for every person, it is it is necessary to use the same measurement parameters for all surfaces. If two materials, which we compare with each other, feel strongly different, such as aluminum, which feels very cold, and plastic, which feels compar­a­tively very warm, then the inter­per­sonal Match very high, close to 100%. If the differ­ences are not so great, there are often people who judge differ­ently in comparison. This can be influ­enced by the form of the day, the time of day, gender, etc.
To represent a multi­di­men­sional haptic finger­print, different descriptors were defined. These are:

  • Macro-​​roughness
  • Micro-​​roughness
  • Contact temper­ature
  • Hardness /​ Softness
  • Stick-​​Slip
  • Slipper­iness

On the basis of these indicators, we are able to identify the most varied materials and provide objective results. First, we defined the physical parameters of a surface.

Here you find a practical appli­cation of four different material combi­na­tions and the different haptic finger­prints.