A Comparison of Two Wearable Tactile Interfaces with a Complementary Display in Two Orientations

Research has shown that two popular forms of wearable tactile displays, a back array and a waist belt, can aid pedestrian navigation by indicating direction. Each type has its proponents and each has been reported as successful in experimental trials, however, no direct experimental comparisons of the two approaches have been reported. We have therefore conducted a series of experiments directly comparing them on a range of measures. In this paper, we present results from a study in which we used a directional line drawing task to compare user performance with these two popular forms of wearable tactile display. We also investigated whether user performance was affected by a match between the plane of the tactile interface and the plane in which the users drew the perceived directions. Finally, we investigated the effect of adding a complementary visual display. The touch screen display on which participants drew the perceived directions presented either a blank display or a visual display of a map indicating eight directions from a central roundabout, corresponding to the eight directions indicated by the tactile stimuli. We found that participants performed significantly faster and more accurately with the belt than with the array whether they had a vertical screen or a horizontal screen. We found no difference in performance with the map display compared to the blank display

A Shoulder Pad Insert Vibrotactile Display

Touch is the most intimate and inherently private human sense and provides the potential for discrete, low social weight human computer interaction. This paper presents initial research findings on issues of integrating a vibrotatcitle display and support electronics into a standard clothing insert, the shoulder pad. Research on construction methods is presented along with a discussion of the merits and drawbacks of each technique. User study data for response to tactile display stimuli, collected with a varying number of stimulators, is then presented with initial conclusions as to the type and format of data suitable for shoulder based tactile arrays.

The memory glasses : wearable computing for just-in-time memory support

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-181).This thesis documents a body of wearable computing research surrounding the development of the Memory Glasses, a new type of proactive memory support technology. The Memory Glasses combines features of existing memory support technologies (such as PDAs) with a context aware delivery system and a low-attention cuing interface. The goal of the Memory Glasses is to provide effective just-in-time memory support while mitigating some of the distraction and over-reliance problems that can result from the use of more conventional memory support technology. The Memory Glasses research is a synthesis of the author's six years of work on wearable computing. This thesis documents the author's intellectual contributions in the areas of wearable computing hardware architectures, software architectures, and human-computer interaction. Specific topics include the MIThril wearable computing research platform, the Enchantment middlewear, the MIThril Real-Time Context Engine, the author's modified Seven Stages of Action model and five principles of low-attention wearable human computer interaction, as well as the author's research in the use of subliminal cuing for just-in-time memory support. Although memory support is the unifying theme of this dissertation, the author's research has seen application in a number of other areas, including the mapping of social networks, research in human physiology and biomedical applications, and group situation awareness and command, control, and communications. A selection of these applications is briefly presented as support for the importance of the author's intellectual contributions.by Richard W. DeVaul.Ph.D

Virtualisation d'interfaces matérielles : proposition, implémentation et évaluation d'un nouveau paradigme d'interactions humain-machine

RÉSUMÉ En acquérant de nouvelles fonctions, les machines environnantes ont vu leur interface se complexifier. Cette évolution rapide et non-contrôlée a mené à des interactions humainmachine moins performantes, forçant deux courants de pensées à émerger. Puisant dans l’informatique pervasive, le premier a favorisé le développement de machines intelligentes, en les augmentant de multiples senseurs pour automatiser la plupart de leurs fonctionnalités, afin de décharger leur interface et limiter les interactions humainmachine aux actions strictement essentielles. Le deuxième s’est concentré, entre autres, sur la formulation de philosophies de design (design centré sur l’utilisateur, conception pour tous, interfaces unifiées…) et sur l’élaboration de méthodes d’évaluation (cognitive walkthrough, évaluations heuristiques…), afin de simplifier et de standardiser ces interfaces. Bien que ces recherches ont et continuent de façonner le monde des interfaces humain-machine tel que nous le connaissons, il nous reste encore beaucoup de progrès à faire pour offrir, à chaque utilisateur et dans un marché de masse, des interfaces optimales et minimales, répondant spécifiquement à leurs besoins, à leurs modèles mentaux et à leurs préférences individuels.----------ABSTRACT As machines acquired new capabilities, their interfaces ultimately became more complex. This unrestrained and rapid evolution led to problematic man-machine interactions, forcing two currents of thought to emerge. Drawing upon pervasive computing, the first moved towards intelligent machines, using multiple sensors to automate most of their functionalities, to streamline their interfaces and to limit manmachine interactions to essential actions. The second focused, among other concepts, on design philosophies (user-centered design, design for all, unified interfaces…) and evaluation methods (cognitive walkthrough, heuristic evaluations…), in a quest to simplify and standardize these interfaces. While such research shaped and continues to shape the world of man-machine interfaces as we know it, we are still far from offering, in a mass-market environment, ideal and minimal interfaces, tailored to a user’s specific and individual needs, mental models and preferences

Interface diffuse : conception, développement et évaluation d'un nouveau paradigme d'interaction humain-ordinateur porté

Introduction -- Revue de littérature sur les interfaces humain-ordinateur porté -- Problématique liée aux interactions humain-ordinateur porté -- Méthodologie de l'étude expérimentale -- Conception et développement d'un prototype d'ordinateur porté et des interfaces diffuses associées -- Résultats de l'étude expérimentale et discussion -- Conclusion

Haptics: Science, Technology, Applications

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications, EuroHaptics 2020, held in Leiden, The Netherlands, in September 2020. The 60 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 111 submissions. The were organized in topical sections on haptic science, haptic technology, and haptic applications. This year's focus is on accessibility

Tactile Displays for Pedestrian Navigation

Existing pedestrian navigation systems are mainly visual-based, sometimes with an addition of audio guidance. However, previous research has reported that visual-based navigation systems require a high level of cognitive efforts, contributing to errors and delays. Furthermore, in many situations a person’s visual and auditory channels may be compromised due to environmental factors or may be occupied by other important tasks. Some research has suggested that the tactile sense can effectively be used for interfaces to support navigation tasks. However, many fundamental design and usability issues with pedestrian tactile navigation displays are yet to be investigated. This dissertation investigates human-computer interaction aspects associated with the design of tactile pedestrian navigation systems. More specifically, it addresses the following questions: What may be appropriate forms of wearable devices? What types of spatial information should such systems provide to pedestrians? How do people use spatial information for different navigation purposes? How can we effectively represent such information via tactile stimuli? And how do tactile navigation systems perform? A series of empirical studies was carried out to (1) investigate the effects of tactile signal properties and manipulation on the human perception of spatial data, (2) find out the effective form of wearable displays for navigation tasks, and (3) explore a number of potential tactile representation techniques for spatial data, specifically representing directions and landmarks. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather information on the use of landmarks amongst people navigating urban environments for different purposes. Analysis of the results of these studies provided implications for the design of tactile pedestrian navigation systems, which we incorporated in a prototype. Finally, field trials were carried out to evaluate the design and address usability issues and performance-related benefits and challenges. The thesis develops an understanding of how to represent spatial information via the tactile channel and provides suggestions for the design and implementation of tactile pedestrian navigation systems. In addition, the thesis classifies the use of various types of landmarks for different navigation purposes. These contributions are developed throughout the thesis building upon an integrated series of empirical studies.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo