The research aims to expand tactile feedback beyond vibrations to various modes of stimuli, such as indentation, vibration, among others. By incorporating soft material into the design of a novel tactile actuator, we can achieve multi-modality and enhance the device's wearability, which encompasses compliance, safety, and portability. The proposed tactile device can elevate the presence and immersion in VR by enabling diverse haptic feedback such as, force indentation, vibration and other arbitrary force outputs. This approach enables the rendering of haptic interactions with virtual objects, such as grasping of aa 3D virtual object to feel its stiffness - action that was difficult to achieve using widely adopted vibrotactile motors.

翻译：本研究旨在将触觉反馈从振动扩展到多种刺激模式，例如压痕、振动等。通过将软材料融入新型触觉致动器的设计中，我们可以实现多模态并增强设备的可穿戴性，这包括顺应性、安全性和便携性。所提出的触觉设备能够通过实现多样化的触觉反馈（如力压痕、振动及其他任意力输出）来提升VR中的临场感和沉浸感。这种方法使得渲染与虚拟物体的触觉交互成为可能，例如抓握三维虚拟物体以感知其刚度——这一动作在使用广泛采用的振动触觉电机时难以实现。