  The main objective of this study is to investigate whether one can use
recordings of human-to-human touch, such as a caress, to improve tactile
apparent motion interfaces to make them feel more natural. We report here
preliminary recordings of natural and continuous human-to-human caresses. To do
this, six accelerometers were positioned on the receiving hand next to the
stimulated area while a finger gently stroked the skin. The results suggest
that we are able to capture signals from real human caresses that can be
compared to signals produced by apparent motion stimuli. This is encouraging
for our plan to continue the study in the second stage, which consists of
tuning vibrotactile actuators to reproduce a similar pattern of vibrational
responses in the accelerometers. In this way, the actuators mimic human
behavior.
