Towards Pleasant Touch: Vibrotactile Grids for Social Touch Interactions

Auteur-es

Ali Israr, Freddy Abnousi

Nombre Auteurs

2

Titre

Towards Pleasant Touch: Vibrotactile Grids for Social Touch Interactions

Année de publication

2018

Référence (APA)

Israr, A., & Abnousi, F. (2018). Towards Pleasant Touch : Vibrotactile Grids for Social Touch Interactions. https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188546

résumé

In this paper, we realize a wearable tactile device that delivers smooth pleasant strokes, those resemble of caressing and calming sensations, on the forearm. In Study 1, we develop a psychophysical model of continuous illusory motion on a discrete vibrotactile array. We use this model to generate a variety of tactile strokes that vary in frequency (quality), amplitude (strength) and duration (speed), and test them on a hedonic scale of pleasant-unpleasant in Study 2. Our results show that low frequency (<40 Hz) strokes at low amplitude (light touch) are felt pleasant, while high frequency strokes are unpleasant. High amplitude strokes are biased towards unpleasantness. Our results are useful for artificial means to enhance social presence among individuals in virtual and augmented settings.

Mots-clés

Social touch, vibrotactile illusions, pleasant touch,
vibrotactile grid displays, wearable

URL

https://research.facebook.com/file/1147760666043554/towards-pleasant-touch_vibrotactile-grids-for-social-touch-interactions.pdf

doi

https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188546

Accessibilité de l'article

Libre

Champ

AR/VR, Human Computer Interaction & UX

Type contenu (théorique Applicative méthodologique)

Applicatif

Méthode

The method involves developing a wearable haptic device that delivers smooth and pleasant strokes on the forearm, resembling caressing and calming sensations. The authors develop a psychophysical model of continuous illusory motion on a discrete vibrotactile array and use it to generate a variety of tactile strokes that vary in frequency, amplitude, and duration.

Cas d'usage

N/A

Objectifs de l'article

The objectives of the article are to develop a wearable haptic device that can enhance social presence among individuals in virtual and augmented settings, and to investigate the psychophysical properties of vibrotactile grids for social touch interactions.

Question(s) de recherche/Hypothèses/conclusion

The research question is how can vibrotactile grids be used to enhance social presence among individuals in virtual and augmented settings?

The hypothesis is that low-frequency strokes at low amplitude are felt pleasant, while high-frequency and high-amplitude strokes are biased towards unpleasantness.

The conclusions are that vibrotactile grids can be used to enhance social presence among individuals in virtual and augmented settings, and that low-frequency strokes at low amplitude are felt pleasant, while high-frequency and high-amplitude strokes are biased towards unpleasantness.

Cadre théorique/Auteur.es

The theoretical framework of the article is based on recent research on successful communication of emotions through touch, particularly the work of Hertenstein et al. (2006) and Eid and Al Osman (2016).

Concepts clés

Vibrotactile grids, Wearable haptic devices, Social touch interactions

Données collectées (type source)

All participants were employees. The data collected was psychophysical data from human participants using the vibrotactile grid mounted on the dorsal forearm.

Définition des émotions

Non

Ampleur expérimentation (volume de comptes)

6 participants

Technologies associées

Wearable haptic devices, Vibrotactile grids

Mention de l'éthique

Non

Finalité communicationnelle

"The present work can be used to generate a variety of tactile strokes and synchronize them with visuals and other contextual cues in human-to-human interactions. Current work is a first step to deliver predefined tactile patterns from a device to a human. Our future work includes exploration of real time human-to-human communication system, that senses real time interactions of one user and delivers them to the second user, who are physically apart."

Pour expériences VR/AR