Investigation of dynamic three-dimensional tangible touchscreens: Usability and feasibility

The ability for touchscreen controls to move from two physical dimensions to three dimensions may soon be possible. Though solutions exist for enhanced tactile touchscreen interaction using vibrotactile devices, no definitive commercial solution yet exists for providing real, physical shape to the virtual buttons on a touchscreen display. Of the many next steps in interface technology, this paper concentrates on the path leading to tangible, dynamic, touchscreen surfaces. An experiment was performed that explores the usage differences between a flat surface touchscreen and one augmented with raised surface controls. The results were mixed. The combination of tactile-visual modalities had a negative effect on task completion time when visual attention was focused on a single task (single target task time increased by 8% and the serial target task time increased by 6%). On the other hand, the dual modality had a positive effect on error rate when visual attention was divided between two tasks (the serial target error rate decreased by 50%). In addition to the experiment, this study also investigated the feasibility of creating a dynamic, three dimensional, tangible touchscreen. A new interface solution may be possible by inverting the traditional touchscreen architecture and integrating emerging technologies such as organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays and electrorheological fluid based tactile pins

The Effects of Multisensory Cues on the Sense of Presence and Task Performance in a Virtual Reality Environment

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of visual, haptic and audio sensory cues on participant’s sense of presence and task performance in a highly immersive virtual environment. Participants were required to change a wheel of a (virtual) racing car in the 3D environment. Subjective ratings of presence and comfort were recorded using the Immersive Tendencies Questionnaire (ITQ), [WS98], the Presence Questionnaire (PQ) [WS98] and Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), [KLB*_93]. The time taken to complete the task was used as an objective performance measure. Auditory, haptic and visual cues signalling critical events in the simulation were manipulated in a factorial design. Participants wore 3D glasses for visual cues, headphones for audio feedback and vibration gloves for tactile feedback. Participants held a physical pneumatic tool. Events, such as the full extraction of a bolt were signalled by haptic (vibration frequency change), acoustic (change in tool sound) and visual (colour change of bolt) cues or combinations of cues. Data was collected in two blocks containing all eight sensory cue combinations: the task was once performed in a normal VR environment (control) and once (motion) in an environment where the position of the virtual environment was sinusoidally modulated by 2 cm in the depth plane at 0.5 Hz to simulate inaccurate participant tracking. All participants completed all 16 conditions in a pseudorandom sequence to control for order and learning effects. Subjective ratings for presence, discomfort and perceived cues effectiveness were recorded after each condition. Participants performed best when all cues were present. Significant main effects of audio and tactile cue presentation on task performance and also on participants' presence ratings were found. We also found a significant negative effect of environment motion on task performance and participants' discomfort ratings