Michele Germani

While acoustic pianos provide a rich tactile experience, digital keyboards often lack the complexvibrating systems that transmit these essential cues. To address this, this study presents a methodologycombining synchronized multi-sensor experimental measurements with a physics-based multibodymodel to optimize digital keyboard haptic feedback. The dynamic behavior of a commercial digitalkeyboard (Fatar TP/100) was characterized using a data fusion approach, employing a load celland a laser triangulation sensor to simultaneously measure keystroke force and key displacement.Dedicated tests isolated the mechanical properties of individual components to calibrate the numericalframework. These experimental data informed a single-key multibody model developed in SiemensNX. The model’s predictive capability was validated by comparing simulated transient responsesagainst experimental data under various loading conditions for both white and black keys. Simulationssuccessfully captured the force-displacement response and key motion, with quantitative displacementdeviations under 1 mm. The developed framework provides a validated tool for future productoptimization, enabling systematic comparisons with acoustic pianos to achieve more authentic tactilefeedback in next-generation digital keyboards.