This dissertation charts opportunities and challenges of engaging people with learning about science through the use of mid-air haptic technology. To that end, research has been carried out at the intersection of three multidisciplinary fields: Science Communication, Haptics, and Human-Computer Interaction.
For science communication to be effective, different tools are required for different audiences. For example, when a child pours cold milk into hot tea and sips a warm beverage, we can raise awareness of the haptic experience; triggering interest and facilitating learning about thermal equilibrium. Not every scientific concept may be explained through changing temperature, and not everybody likes tea, but the principle of haptic experience facilitated public engagement with science remains a valid basis to examine.
Science communicators seek new technological solutions and innovative modalities of communication, some of which include haptic technology and touch interaction. Ultrasonic mid-air haptic technology is a novel tool, which enables the creation of programable, invisible, cutaneous tactile sensations on an airborne interface between humans and the digital world. Mid-air haptic sensations may bring many benefits when used in science communication, but these have not yet been systematically studied
