COMPOUND HAPTIC EFFECTS USING MULTIMODAL TACTILE FEEDBACK ACTUATOR

There is described a method of operating a tactile feedback actuator with a controller. The tactile feedback actuator has a magnetic hammer guidingly mounted for movement along a hammer path, a damper at a first end of the hammer path, a stopper at a second end of the hammer path, and a coil element. The method generally has receiving data indicative of coil activation instructions for moving the magnetic hammer to generate a sequence of haptic effects that simulate a real world event, the coil activation instructions including: a first instruction for generating a first haptic effect in which the magnetic hammer is accelerated towards the stopper, and a second instruction for generating a second haptic effect in which the magnetic hammer is accelerated towards the damper; and activating the coil element upon processing the data indicative of the coil activation instructions to generate the sequence of haptic effects.