Body x Materials: A workshop exploring the role of material-enabled body-based multisensory experiences

Over the last 15 years, HCI and Interaction Design have experienced a “material turn” characterized by a growing interest in the materiality of technology and computation, and in methods that support exploring, envisioning, and crafting with and through materials. The community has experienced a similar turn focused on the body, on how to best design for and from a first-person, lived experience, and the moving and sensual body. In this workshop, we focus on the intersection of these two turns. The emerging developments in multimodal interfaces open opportunities to bring in materiality to the digital world as well as to transform the materiality of objects and bodies in the real-world, including the materiality of our own body. The different sensory qualities of (touchable and untouchable, physical and digital) objects and bodies, including our own, can be brought into the design of digital technologies to enrich, augment, and transform embodied experiences. In this “materials revolution” [15], what are the current theories, approaches, methods, and tools that emphasize the critical role of materiality to body-based interactions with technology? To explore this, in this workshop we will focus on five related themes: material enabling expression, material as a catalyst for human action, material enabling reflection and awareness, material enabling transformation and material supporting the design process for the re-creation of the existing and the yet-to-exist. This workshop with technology presentations, panel sessions with experts, and multidisciplinary discussions will: (i) bring together researchers who work on (re)creating sensory properties of materials through technology with those who investigate experiential effects of materials and materialenabled interactions, (ii) discuss methods, opportunities, difficulties in designing materiality and material-enabled interactions, and (iii) form a multidisciplinary community to build synergies and collaborations

Hardness Perception Based on Dynamic Stiffness in Tapping

A human can judge the hardness of an object based on the damped natural vibration caused by tapping the surface of the object using a fingertip. In this study, we investigated the influence of the dynamic characteristics of vibrations on the hardness perceived by tapping. Subjectively reported hardness values were related to the dynamic stiffness of several objects. The dynamic stiffness, which characterizes the impulsive response of an object, was acquired across the 40–1,000 Hz frequency range for cuboids of 14 types of materials by administering a hammering test. We performed two psychophysical experiments—a ranking task and a magnitude-estimation tasks—wherein participants rated the perceived hardness of each block by tapping it with a finger. We found that the perceptual effect of dynamic stiffness depends on the frequency. Its effect displayed a peak around 300 Hz and decreased or disappeared at higher frequencies, at which human perceptual capabilities are limited. The acquired results help design hardness experienced by products

Body x materials: A workshop exploring the role of material-enabled body-based multisensory experiences

Over the last 15 years, HCI and Interaction Design have experienced a “material turn” characterized by a growing interest in the materi- ality of technology and computation, and in methods that support exploring, envisioning, and crafting with and through materials. The community has experienced a similar turn focused on the body, on how to best design for and from a first-person, lived experience, and the moving and sensual body. In this workshop, we focus on the intersection of these two turns. The emerging developments in mul- timodal interfaces open opportunities to bring in materiality to the digital world as well as to transform the materiality of objects and bodies in the real-world, including the materiality of our own bod- ies. The different sensory qualities of (touchable and untouchable, physical and digital) objects and bodies, including our own, can be brought into the design of digital technologies to enrich, augment, and transform embodied experiences. In this “materials revolution” [15], what are the current theories, approaches, methods, and tools that emphasize the critical role of materiality to body-based interac- tions with technology? To explore this, in this workshop we will fo- cus on five related themes: material enabling expression, material as a catalyst for human action, material enabling reflection and aware- ness, material enabling transformation and material supporting the design process for the re-creation of the existing and the yet-to- exist. This workshop with technology presentations, panel sessions with experts, and multidisciplinary discussions will: (i) bring to- gether researchers who work on (re)creating sensory properties of materials through technology with those who investigate expe- riential effects of materials and material-enabled interactions, (ii)discuss methods, opportunities, difficulties in designing materiality and material-enabled interactions, and (iii) form a multidisciplinary community to build synergies and collaborations

Experimental and analytical investigations of friction at lubricant bearings in passive suspension systems

Friction is a very complex phenomenon, arising from the contact of surfaces. In many engineering applications, the success of models in predicting experimental results remains strongly sensitive to the friction model. In practice, it is not possible to determine an exact friction model, however; based on observation results and dynamic systems analysis, a recently proposed model of nonlinear friction at linear supported lubricant bearings is investigated. This model involved static friction, stiction region, and dynamic friction, which is consisted of transition, Stribeck effect, Coulomb and viscous friction. On the other hand, this model is applied in the passive suspension system. Accordingly, a new quarter-car passive suspension model with the implementation of friction force is considered. Also, a vital experimental and simulation aspect is the generation of system input. Therefore, a nonlinear hydraulic actuator used, modelling this actuator with including the dynamic of servovalve derived by the proportional-integral (PI) controller, is prepared. This study is validated experimentally, with simulation achieving C++ compiler. Consequently, a good agreement between the experimental and simulation results is obtained, i.e. the nonlinear friction, passive suspension system, and nonlinear hydraulic actuator models are entirely accurate and useful. The suggested PI controller successfully derived the hydraulic actuator to validate the control scheme

Touch Amplification for Human Computer Interaction

This thesis proposes a unique approach to haptic feedback, based on a hand-worn electronic device that amplifies the sense of touch. By capturing and reproducing touch elicited vibrations in real time, the feeling of otherwise natural finger-object interactions can be altered, while preserving temporal and spectral properties of the signal that are unique for every interaction and thus impossible to display without sensing and processing in real time. In order to shed light on the physical mechanisms through which such a device can operate, this thesis undertook an empirical investigation of the propagation of touch elicited mechanical vibrations (elastic waves) in the finger, and their dependence on the spatial pathway and frequency of excitation. Next, the thesis proposes a novel touch amplification system informed by these results, and addresses factors affecting the performance of the device, including the stability of the system at high gain levels. The results suggest promising applications in augmented reality and human-computer interaction

Αναγνώριση υφών μέσω απτικής συσκευής ανάδρασης - Σύγκριση νεαρών ενηλίκων τυπικής όρασης και με οπτική αναπηρία

Διπλωματική εργασία--Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, Θεσσαλονίκη, 2018.Στην παρούσα ερευνητική εργασία μελετάται η σύγκριση ανάμεσα σε νεαρούς ενήλικες με τυπική όραση και οπτική αναπηρία στην αναγνώριση υφών μέσω της απτικής συσκευής ανάδρασης Phantom Omni, με απώτερο στόχο να προσδιοριστεί η δυνατότητα χρήσης αυτών των υφών για την παρουσίαση τρισδιάστατων αντικειμένων και ιδιοτήτων τους. Οι εικονικές υφές μπορούν να αυξήσουν την αίσθηση της πραγματικότητας ενός αντικειμένου και να μεταφέρουν πληροφορίες για αυτό. Η μελέτη των εικονικών υφών δεν έχει λάβει την απαιτούμενη επιστημονική προσοχή και χρήζει ιδιαίτερου ενδιαφέροντος, εάν αναλογιστεί κανείς τα οφέλη μιας τέτοιας έρευνας σε πρακτικό επίπεδο. Στην έρευνα έλαβαν μέρος 58 άτομα, εκ των οποίων τα 28 είναι με τυπική όραση και τα 30 με οπτική αναπηρία, ηλικίας 19-36 χρονών. Στατιστικές αναλύσεις διεξήχθησαν για να αξιολογηθούν οι διαφορές μεταξύ των φύλων και των ομάδων ως προς τις επιδόσεις τους. Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα, οι συμμετέχοντες με τυπική όραση παρουσιάζουν καλύτερες επιδόσεις στην αναγνώριση εικονικών υφών από ότι τα άτομα με οπτική αναπηρία, ανεξαρτήτως φύλου. Βάσει του ποσοστού επιτυχίας των επιδόσεων όλων των συμμετεχόντων, οι συγκεκριμένες υφές μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν για την παρουσίαση τρισδιάστατων αντικειμένων και ιδιοτήτων τους