SpiroSurface: A Repulsive and Attractive Force Display for Interactive Tabletops Using a Pneumatic System

We present SpiroSurface, a novel force display for interactive tabletops. SpiroSurface uses a pneumatic system to generate both repulsive and attractive forces. We develop a prototype with 5×5 grid holes on the surface connected to an air compressor and vacuum tanks through electromagnetic valves. The display can output a maximum of +1.0 and -0.08 megapascal (MPa) pressure from a hole that generates 74 and -6 N force. We investigated the latency of the output pressure through pneumatics and an experiment, which indicated a minimum of 50-ms latency. The display allows the creation of three kinds of novel interactions: (1) enhancement of GUI, (2) deformation of soft objects, and (3) three degrees of freedom rotation of objects. In the first application,
users can feel the force from the display without holding or attaching additional devices. In the second and third applications, the shape and motion of an object on the surface can be manipulated without embedding additional active components in the objects. These aspects allow users to easily experience interaction and expand the freedom of interaction design. We introduce several examples combining video projection