Force & Haptics Measurement and Calibration

End users expect a button press to provide consistent and rational feedback – it just feels right!

Tactile buttons providing haptic user feedback aim to generate the same pleasant user feedback as mechanical buttons. User feedback can be further enhanced with other timely synchronized feedback such as light and sound. In addition to buttons, the haptics feedback enables usage of different types of user interfaces such as sliders and dials.

Using tactile buttons provide multiple benefits, for instance more freedom for industrial design, better water and dust protection and reduced amount of mechanical parts which may eventually wear out or break down. Also, the tactile button provides more functions than a traditional mechanical button. Common tactile button gestures include tap, double tap, long press, slide or drag, swipe or flick and spread and pinch.

User experience is the result of technology integration involving:

• mechanical and electrical design to integrate the controller, drive circuits and actuator into the product
• characterization of the tactile button actuation force, thresholds and repeatability
• controller configuration and tuning to ensure the quality of the haptic sensations.
• UI software integration and configuration.
• manufacturing quality assurance to ensure functionality and performance.

OptoFidelity test systems prove methods and technology for measuring the press and release force with configurable actuation force profiles and a way to measure the haptic feedback timing and strength. These measurements make it possible to benchmark the different technological choices, testing the functionality in different phases of development and tuning the performance to create an excellent end user experience. Customized measurements can be implemented depending on the system under test. Aside of TOUCH test systems, OptoFidelity also sells a range of force actuators.