Thermal and wind devices for multisensory human-computer interaction: an overview

In order to create immersive experiences in virtual worlds, we need to explore different human senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch). Many different devices have been developed by both industry and academia towards this aim. In this paper, we focus our attention on the researched area of thermal and wind devices to deliver the sensations of heat and cold against people’s skin and their application to human-computer interaction (HCI). First, we present a review of devices and their features that were identified as relevant. Then, we highlight the users’ experience with thermal and wind devices, highlighting limitations either found or inferred by the authors and studies selected for this survey. Accordingly, from the current literature, we can infer that, in wind and temperature-based haptic systems (i) users experience wind effects produced by fans that move air molecules at room temperature, and (ii) there is no integration of thermal components to devices intended for the production of both cold or hot airflows. Subsequently, an analysis of why thermal wind devices have not been devised yet is undertaken, highlighting the challenges of creating such devices.Espírito Santo Research and Innovation Foundation (FAPES, Brazil) - Finance Code 2021-GL60J), the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES, Brazil) - Finance Code 88881.187844/2018-01 and 88887.570688/2020-00 and by the National Council for Scientific and Technological (CNPq, Brazil) - Finance Code 307718/2020-4. The work was also funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. 688503. E. B. Saleme additionally acknowledges aid from the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2 and reports on five research projects.National Institutes of Health Contract 2 R01 DC00117National Institutes of Health Contract 1 R01 DC02032National Institutes of Health Contract 2 P01 DC00361National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC22402National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC001001National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00270National Institutes of Health Grant 5 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant R29-DC00625U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-88-K-0604U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1454U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1814U.S. Navy - Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division Contract N61339-94-C-0087U.S. Navy - Naval Air Warfare Center Training System Division Contract N61339-93-C-0055U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-93-1-1198National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Ames Research Center Grant NCC 2-77

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 Arrays for Virtual Textures

This thesis describes the development of three new tactile stimulators for active touch, i.e. devices to deliver virtual touch stimuli to the fingertip in response to exploratory movements by the user. All three stimulators are designed to provide spatiotemporal patterns of mechanical input to the skin via an array of contactors, each under individual computer control. Drive mechanisms are based on piezoelectric bimorphs in a cantilever geometry. The first of these is a 25-contactor array (5 × 5 contactors at 2 mm spacing). It is a rugged design with a compact drive system and is capable of producing strong stimuli when running from low voltage supplies. Combined with a PC mouse, it can be used for active exploration tasks. Pilot studies were performed which demonstrated that subjects could successfully use the device for discrimination of line orientation, simple shape identification and line following tasks. A 24-contactor stimulator (6 × 4 contactors at 2 mm spacing) with improved bandwidth was then developed. This features control electronics designed to transmit arbitrary waveforms to each channel (generated on-the-fly, in real time) and software for rapid development of experiments. It is built around a graphics tablet, giving high precision position capability over a large 2D workspace. Experiments using two-component stimuli (components at 40 Hz and 320 Hz) indicate that spectral balance within active stimuli is discriminable independent of overall intensity, and that the spatial variation (texture) within the target is easier to detect at 320 Hz that at 40 Hz. The third system developed (again 6 × 4 contactors at 2 mm spacing) was a lightweight modular stimulator developed for fingertip and thumb grasping tasks; furthermore it was integrated with force-feedback on each digit and a complex graphical display, forming a multi-modal Virtual Reality device for the display of virtual textiles. It is capable of broadband stimulation with real-time generated outputs derived from a physical model of the fabric surface. In an evaluation study, virtual textiles generated from physical measurements of real textiles were ranked in categories reflecting key mechanical and textural properties. The results were compared with a similar study performed on the real fabrics from which the virtual textiles had been derived. There was good agreement between the ratings of the virtual textiles and the real textiles, indicating that the virtual textiles are a good representation of the real textiles and that the system is delivering appropriate cues to the user

Haptic Media Scenes

The aim of this thesis is to apply new media phenomenological and enactive embodied cognition approaches to explain the role of haptic sensitivity and communication in personal computer environments for productivity. Prior theory has given little attention to the role of haptic senses in influencing cognitive processes, and do not frame the richness of haptic communication in interaction design—as haptic interactivity in HCI has historically tended to be designed and analyzed from a perspective on communication as transmissions, sending and receiving haptic signals. The haptic sense may not only mediate contact confirmation and affirmation, but also rich semiotic and affective messages—yet this is a strong contrast between this inherent ability of haptic perception, and current day support for such haptic communication interfaces. I therefore ask: How do the haptic senses (touch and proprioception) impact our cognitive faculty when mediated through digital and sensor technologies? How may these insights be employed in interface design to facilitate rich haptic communication? To answer these questions, I use theoretical close readings that embrace two research fields, new media phenomenology and enactive embodied cognition. The theoretical discussion is supported by neuroscientific evidence, and tested empirically through case studies centered on digital art. I use these insights to develop the concept of the haptic figura, an analytical tool to frame the communicative qualities of haptic media. The concept gauges rich machine- mediated haptic interactivity and communication in systems with a material solution supporting active haptic perception, and the mediation of semiotic and affective messages that are understood and felt. As such the concept may function as a design tool for developers, but also for media critics evaluating haptic media. The tool is used to frame a discussion on opportunities and shortcomings of haptic interfaces for productivity, differentiating between media systems for the hand and the full body. The significance of this investigation is demonstrating that haptic communication is an underutilized element in personal computer environments for productivity and providing an analytical framework for a more nuanced understanding of haptic communication as enabling the mediation of a range of semiotic and affective messages, beyond notification and confirmation interactivity

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

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN APPLIED TO PERCEPTUAL PARADIGMS

This thesis gives three examples of projects that apply knowledge from areas such as human centered design, computer science, and psychology to study sensation and perception. All three of these projects were created to gather information on how humans interact with their surrounding environment and the world. For instance the first area of discovery included the way humans interact within their perceptual and personal space through an interactive table. The second project looks at exploring the neural mechanisms that affect Haptic Hallucinations by creating a device that can give the feeling of bugs crawling on or below the surface of the skin. The final study is an experiment, which looks to study tactile spatial acuity through laser cut stimuli and recording movements of exploration

Haptics: Science, Technology, Applications

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications, EuroHaptics 2022, held in Hamburg, Germany, in May 2022. The 36 regular papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 129 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: haptic science; haptic technology; and haptic applications

Surface resonance

Surface resonance is a sound and tactile sensation research project. Through compositions and an installation, I focused on felt and heard vibration, how they are perceived and how they contribute to the experience of sound. I explored vibration as a product of low frequency (bass) sound, drawing inspiration from musical contexts where sensation from sound is emphasised. As low frequency sound passes through a space it can stimulate vibrations in a building structure. These vibrations may be experienced physically, through the transmission of energy from the building and into the body, and/or may create vibration sound that is experienced aurally, such as rattles from fixtures or windows. My interest has been in the characteristics of these vibrations and how they may convey connections between sound and the physical aspects of the body or a space. I have explored the idea that vibration, both heard and experienced physically, can change a person’s perception of sound. Compositions were made for vibro-acoustic installation, which combines a ‘tactile table’ system that an audience sits or lies on to experience sensation, with loudspeakers reproducing acoustic material. This ADR supports the evaluation of the compositions by giving body to the research program. It also provides a resource for composers working within the field. It describes the questions asked, the methodology applied, and the outcomes. Given the vibration medium, the descriptions can only partly illustrate the creative process and findings. However, a focus on my conceptual development and research process is provided to show the ideas covered and contribution to the sound arts field

Tactile Modulation of the Sensory and Cortical Responses Elicited by Focal Cooling in Humans and Mice

Distinct sensory receptors transduce thermal and mechanical energies, but we have unified, coherent thermotactile experiences of the objects we touch. These experiences must emerge from the interaction of thermal and tactile signals within the nervous system. How do thermal and mechanical signals modify each other as they interact along the pathway from skin to conscious experience? In this thesis, we study how mechanical touch modulates cooling responses by combining psychophysics in humans and neural recordings in rodents. For this, we developed a novel stimulator to deliver focal, temperature-controlled cooling without touch. First, we used this method to study in humans the sensitivity to focal cooling with and without touch. We found that touch reduces the sensitivity to near-threshold cooling, which is perhaps analogous to the well-established ‘gating’ of pain by touch. Second, we studied the perceived intensity of cooling with and without touch. We found that tactile input enhances the perceived intensity of cooling. Third, we measured the responses of the mouse primary somatosensory cortex to cooling and mechanical stimuli using imaging and electrophysiological methods. We found multisensory stimuli elicited non-linear cortical responses at both the population and cellular level. Altogether, in this thesis, we show perceptual and cortical responses to non-tactile cooling for the first time. Based on our observations, we propose a new model to explain the interactions between cooling and mechanical signals in the nervous system. This thesis advances our understanding of how touch modulates cold sensations during thermotactile stimulation