Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Wearable Haptics'

Wearable haptics is a promising research field with the long term goal of reliably conveying information through the sense of touch by applying the tactile feedback directly to the wearer. When adopted as a means of communication, wearable haptic interfaces allow for forms of interaction that are spontaneous in face-to-face conversation, but currently missing when the latter is mediated by technology. The research in this field provides opportunity for exploiting the tactile channel also to convey information that we do not normally acquire via touch, not only in the aim of offloading some of the communication from the audiovisual channels, but also for providing richer multimodal instructions. This thesis presents the results of three years of research in wearable haptics, collecting all the work I have done toward the Ph.D degree. In particular, the dissertation focuses on challenges related to the development of algorithms and wearable technologies enabling haptic communication of physical object properties, emotions, and human body postures. Within a few years, mediated touch through wearable devices will be on the verge of becoming universally available even outside the lab context, so research on this topic is timely and necessary. The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the body of knowledge in wearable haptics, and the results here presented suggest that there is a benefit in the use of the proposed solutions for mediated touch to enhance remote communication.

This manuscript reports the research work done during my Ph.D. on the applications of haptic technology to guide humans, i.e. on the design of devices and strategies for instructing human users by means of haptic stimulation. The basic concept presented in this thesis is the exploitation of the tactile channel, that is the most underused but also the most distributed sensory input channel, to provide users with relevant and otherwise unaccessible information, e.g. environmental awareness or task-related instructions. Over the past years, several wearable haptic devices have been developed to stimulate the users’ skin receptors and induce a variety of touch perceptions, from texture rendering to temperature and skin indentation. This manuscript investigates applications of the aforementioned haptic interfaces in guidance scenarios, with a particular interest toward the design of haptic patterns to deliver minimal, intuitive and effective cues. Indeed, the haptic policy design process has to take into account that guiding humans is different from guiding robots. Robots can receive an impressive amount of data, process it, and use it to plan and correct motions in an outstandingly short time. Applying the same approach to humans would most probably yield instructions that are difficult to understand and apply, thus leading to poor task performance. A better understanding of the human physical and mental capabilities is necessary to optimize the communication toward the operators and facilitate their acceptance and trust in technology. For this reason, the first part of this thesis work discloses the background literature on human locomotion, neural entrainment and haptic stimulation. The dissertation then moves to specific facets of the human guidance mediated by haptics in individual and cooperative scenarios. The second chapter addresses the problem of instructing humans to modify their walking direction and velocity by means of haptic cues, for instance for indoor and outdoor navigation, and explores the topic of sharing tactile perceptions between users applied to a remote social walking experience. The third chapter presents the developments in human-human cooperation scenarios mediated by wearable devices, i.e. instructing a formation of humans to accomplish a common objective coordinated by haptic stimuli. The fourth chapter reports two minor projects on haptic guidance. The No-Face Touch system was developed during the current Covid-19 pandemic to support the population by detecting and alerting face-touch attempts. The guidance provided by the system does not instruct specific motions, but leverages the gesture-detection functionalities to notify unwanted behaviors, this way unburdening the users from constantly paying attention to their actions. The latter project proposes a novel approach to Augmented Reality that was designed to minimize the encumbrance on users’ hands, so that the augmented experience can comply with different tasks and provide users with support and guidance by leveraging visual and haptic cues.

In this thesis, my main contributions to the field of Robotics and Haptics are presented. Results and deductions represent the work done during the PhD. My research investigated multiple ways to guide humans using haptic interfaces and novel tracking systems. Two main fields were tackled in the past three years: i) tracking systems and algorithms, ii) haptic devices and guidance policies. Haptic feedback and limbs tracking are the two main pillars for human guidance, and this thesis discusses when and how they can be used to their best effect in interactive applications. The dissertation begins with an introduction in where guidelines of haptics and tracking are backgrounded. The first Chapter introduces the unique attributes of the touch sense in physiological terms, and the nature of information and control that can provide. Then, the flow continues with an overview of the tracking state of the art, outlining our contribution. Two main parts supplement the rest of the thesis. The former concerns the problem of tracking different body parts, in a wearable, low-cost, and effective way. Solutions for fingers,hand,and head are reported and discussed, proposing interesting real applications. Thelatterfocusesontheproblemofguidinghumansbymeansofhapticinterfaces. More in detail, we analyze how to adapt algorithms and techniques originally developed for mobile robots to guide people. An innovative policy to control both human angular and linear velocity is presented as a preliminary result in the last part of this work.

Artistic painting involves mastery of haptic interaction with tools. Each tool brings unique physical affordances which determines an aesthetic expression of the finished work. For instance, a pen offers an ability to make a precise stroke in a realism painting, whereas a thick brush or a sponge works perfectly with dynamic arm movement in the abstract art such as action painting. Yet the selection of a tool is just a beginning. It requires repetitive training to understand the full capability of the tool affordance and to master the painting of preferred aesthetic strokes. Such physical act of an artistic expression cannot be captured by the computational tools today. Due to the increasing market adoption of augmented reality and virtual reality, and the decades of studies in haptics, we see an opportunity for advancing 3D painting experiences in non-conventional approach. In this research, we focus on force haptic interaction for 3D painting art in a room-scale virtual reality. We explore virtual tangibility and tool affordance of its own medium. In addition to investigating the fidelity of a physical interactivity, we seek ways to extend the painting capabilities by computationally customized force feedback and metaphor design. This system consists of a wearable force feedback device that sits on user’s hand, a software for motor control and real-time 3D stroke generation, and their integration to VR platform. We work closely with an artist to refine the 3D painting application and to evaluate the system’s usability.

付記する学位プログラム名: デザイン学大学院連携プログラム
Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(工学)
甲第21759号
工博第4576号
新制||工||1713(附属図書館)
京都大学大学院工学研究科機械理工学専攻
(主査)教授 松野 文俊, 教授 椹木 哲夫, 教授 小森 雅晴
学位規則第4条第1項該当

The innovation of rehabilitation and assistive technology nowadays is now driven by a double thrust. On one side, the average age of people is increasing as a result of the improved lifestyle in the last twenty years, which focuses on human well-being, consequently, the overall social impact of chronic diseases related to the musculoskeletal and nervous system is becoming relevant. On the other side, technology, spreading more and more now in everyday life, is acquiring an increasingly important role in preserving and ensuring a high quality of life even in the presence of temporary and/or chronic disorders. Technological advancements in the healthcare medical rehabilitative and assistive system allow people with disabilities to live a life in many cases independently. These advances, which translate into the realization of new devices and supports for the individual, can help in the autonomy of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), in communication, study, learning, and more generally, to increase the degree of self-esteem by facilitating social inclusion and participation. The aim of this thesis is to combine aspects of robotics with the themes of assistance and rehabilitation, presenting new solutions in the Human Robot Interaction (HRI) field. In this manuscript, concerning rehabilitation and assistance, two major robotics areas are investigated, i.e. the exoskeleton and the haptic fields. The upper limb plays an important role in all daily activities. This thesis presents devices for rehabilitation and assistive application to help people with upper limb impairment, especially wrist and hand functions. The charm of these technologies lies in the possibility of following a rehabilitation path from home comfort, improving the medical health system, facilitating ADLs by eliminating constraints in terms of time, physiotherapist’s strength and costs, improving the rehabilitation path process. In this context, the exoskeletons, first for the wrist, then for the hand and finally an integration of the two just mentioned, are presented in the first thesis part. A user--centered design perspective is used throughout all design and development phases of the prototypes showing the effectiveness of developing tailor-made devices specifically designed on the user’ needs. Further, by exploiting haptic for rehabilitation and assistance, portable haptic grounded devices and wearable, are reported. Also, in this case, the focus of the thesis is on the hand providing solutions that can be used to help people in recovering and performing rehabilitation from remote without the physical presence of a doctor/specialist. Moreover, with regard to the topic of assistance only, the field of robotic grippers is exploited. Advanced design and manufacturing techniques are opening up opportunities in various technological applications, including end-effector design. In this context, grasping and manipulating objects in unstructured environments by means of simple, yet versatile and robust grippers and hands, is still an open challenge. In this thesis, it is presented a methodology for designing soft-rigid grippers that exploits compliant structures and implements a new type of actuation to vary its rigidity, able of performing different manipulation tasks. Similarly, in the final part of the thesis it is presented a soft-rigid gripper that combines a compliant and safe structure with a synergy between tendon and magnetic actuation for dressing assistance, which provides various advantages and can perform various grasping and manipulation tasks.

On-the-go users' interaction with mobile devices often requires high visual attention that can overtax limited human resources. For example, while attending information displayed on a mobile device, on-the-go users who are driving a car or walking in the street can easily fail to see a dangerous situation. This dissertation explores the benefits of wearable tactile displays (WTDs) to support eyes-free interaction for on-the-go users. The design and implementation of the WTDs are motivated by two principles in mobile user interaction that have been proven both commercially and academically: wristwatch interfaces that reduce the time for device acquisition and tactile interfaces that eliminate the need for visual attention. In this dissertation, I present three phases of design iteration on WTDs to provide the design rationale and challenges. The result of the iterative design is evaluated through in-depth formal investigations with novice users in two experiments: user perception of the tactile stimuli and information throughput in association with multiple tactile parameters, and perception of the tactile stimuli and information throughput when the user is visually distracted. The first experiment explores general human capabilities in perceiving tactile stimuli on the wrist. It reveals that subjects could discriminate 24 tactile patterns with 98% accuracy after 40 minutes of training. Of the four parameters (intensity, starting point, rhythm, direction) that were configured to design the 24 patterns, intensity was the most difficult parameter to distinguish, and temporal variation was the easiest. The second experiment explores users' abilities to perceive incoming alerts from two mobile devices (WTD and mobile phone) with and without visual distraction. The second experiment reveals that when the user was distracted visually, reaction time to perceive the incoming alerts became slower with the mobile phone alert but not with the WTD.

This thesis investigates the assumed affordance of haptic technology in a wearable context. This work position itself within the internet of things where wearable and connected objects have established themselves as a sub-domain in the area. Some argued that haptic technologies provide certain benefits when creating interfaces for wearable technologies. However, their seams to be a lack of studies investigating the natural responses to haptic technology from a user perspective. To investigate the assumed benefits of haptic technology, we have developed a prototype of a wearable haptic system. This system consists of two jacket were each jacket contains 16 touch sensitive sensor and haptic actuators. All interactions with the sensor of one jacket are mirrored with a haptic feedback in the other jacket. The purpose of this system is to investigate the initial responses and accord of haptic technology by users. The reason for doing this is to develop guidelines for further investigation into haptic technology as a means for creating wearable objects with a non-screen based interfaces.The study concludes there to be some merit to the use of rhythm for creating haptic interaction patterns as well as haptic technology affording a simple and natural dialog in human computer interaction. Further, we also conclude that there is some merit to haptic affording faster learning curves in novel non-screen based interaction and are suitable for providing clear feedback. This study also shows limitations for haptic technology. Haptics seem less proficient for interfaces existing in a system as well as handling errors. This study also proved problematic because of the lack in clearly defined methods for investigating novel non-screen based interfaces.In chapter two of this thesis we first present a theoretical overview of wearable’s generally and how haptic technology position itself within wearable technology. In chapter three, we move on by introducing our methods of research. Based on our theory we then frame the technological outline of the project and practical implementation. We follow this by presenting the results in chapter five from our user testing conducted with the prototype. We end our thesis with a discussion in chapter six with presenting the principal findings together with our discussion and future developments in chapter seven.

A stressful society with a deficiency of attention has led to a growing demand for meditation techniques. One meditation technique is mindfulness, which is a tool used to reduce stress, intensify body awareness and to help us be more present. However, as mindfulness requires extensive training and dedication, many beginners may decide to quit practicing in the initial phase and may risk not ever experiencing the benefits of body awareness. Previous studies indicate that technology is often blamed for the deficiency of attention. Therefore, this study addresses the possibilities to design technology for sustained attention. More precisely, the study aims to investigate what potential possibilities wearable haptic technology has in enabling body awareness in body scan meditation in mindfulness. It also aims to explore how beginners in mindfulness experience the use of wearable haptic technology in body scan meditation. The study explores these problems by combining research through design and action research, with three phases of iteration, resulting in the design, implementation and evaluation of the wearable prototype HeatCue with haptic thermal feedback. The study implies that HeatCue provides an intimate, subtle and skin-close interaction, suitable for the context of body scan mediation. The results indicate that wearable haptic technology with thermal feedback holds the possibility to enable body awareness in body scan meditation through acting as a reminder for the body part where the feedback is applied, a reference for the rest of the body as well as encouragement. Furthermore, the study shows that wearable haptic technology is beneficial in evoking emotions and interest. The study also indicates some key aspects when designing for body awareness, namely; subtlety and interplay of the feedback, a secluded environment and an understanding that each individual is different. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of designing for body awareness and to new knowledge in the field of wearable haptic technology with thermal feedback and techno-spirituality in human-computer interaction

This research explores a new way of enhancing audience experience in film entertainment, presenting the design and implementation of a wearable prototype system that uses haptic sensations to intensify moods in lm music. The aim of this work is to enrich the musical experience of film audiences and might also have implications on the hearing-impaired, providing them with a new enhanced emotional experience while watching a movie. Although there has been previous work into music displays of a visual and haptic nature, and on the importance of music in film, there is no documented research on musical enhancement experience in film entertainment. This work focuses on the mood conveyed by film music in order to understand what role it plays in creating the film experience, and also explores the possibility of enhancing those feelings through haptic sensations. Drawing on HCI and interaction design principles, the design of a piece of haptic wearable technology is proposed and used as the tool for user studies. This research contributes to the fields of: HCI, interaction design, user experience design, multimodal interaction, creative technology, wearable technology, haptics, entertainment technology and film music. This work also provides a set of design suggestions to aid future research and designers of haptic sensations for media enhancement. Proposed guidelines are based on a number of empirical findings that describe and explain aspects of audience emotional response to haptics, providing some first evidence that there is a correlation between vibrotactile stimuli (such as frequency and intensity) and perceived feelings.

Bicyclist are increasingly shaping the picture of urban traffic. With regard to guided navigation through urban areas, navigation systems that are designed for this type of traffic participants do not offer a satisfying solution. Voice instructions are often perceived as annoying and far too detailed. In addition, the usage of headphones to hear these instructions reduces the hearing and localization of environmental sounds significantly. Visual information on the other hand, draws the attention too much away from the main traffic situation. This effects the ability to react to and interact with other traffic participants and the surrounding and results in a feeling of insecurity.This thesis investigates how acoustic and vibro-tactile signals can be used to provide cyclists with necessary navigation instructions while maintaining the ability to perceive ambient sounds and keep attention to the environment. In addition, the focus is placed on the experience of guided navigation with a non-visual, multi-sensory system.

Deep touch pressure is used to treat sensory processing difficulties by applying a firm touch to the body to stimulate the nervous system and soothe anxiety. I conducted a long-term exploration of deep touch pressure from a first-person perspective, using shape-changing pneumatic actuators, breathing and ECG sensors to investigate whether deep touch pressure can guide users to engage in semi-autonomous interactions with their breathing and encourage greater introspection and body awareness. Based on an initial collaborative material exploration, I designed the breathing garment- a wearable vest used to guide the wearer through deep breathing techniques. The breathing garment presents a new use case of deep touch pressure as a modality for hapticbreathing feedback, which showed potential in supporting interoceptive awareness and relaxation. It allowed me to engage in a dialogue with my body, serving as a constant reminder to turn inwards and attend to my somatic experience. By pushing my torso forward, the actuators were able to engage my entire body while responding to my breath, creating a sense of intimacy, of being safe and taken care of. This work addresses a gap in HCI research around deep touch pressure and biosensing technology concerning the subjective experience of their emotional and cognitive impact. The longterm, felt engagement with different breathing techniques opened up a rich design space around pressure-based actuation in the context of breathing. This rendered a number of experiential qualities and affordances of the shape-changing pneumatic actuators, such as: applying subtle, slowly changing pressure to draw attention to specific body parts, but also disrupting the habitual way of breathing with asynchronous and asymmetric actuation patterns; taking on a leading or following role in the interaction, at times both simultaneously; and acting as a comforting companion or as a communication channel between two people as well as between one person and their soma.
Djuptrycksterapi (Deep Touch Pressure, DTP) används för att behandla personer som har problem med att processa sensoriska upplevelser. Detta genom att applicera ett fast tryck på kroppen för att aktivera nervsystemet och lindra ångest. Jag genomförde en långtidsutforskning av DTP ur ett första-persons-perspektiv, med hjälp av formförändrande tryckluftsaktuatorer, andnings sensorer och EKG-elektroder. Dess syfte var att undersöka ifall DTP kan guida användare till att engageras i semiautonoma interaktioner med sin andning och främja en större introspektion och kroppsmedvetenhet. Baserat på ett initialt samarbete kring undersökning av olika material, designade jag “the breathing garment” - en bärbar väst som guidar användaren genom djupandningstekniker. Andningsvästen visar på en ny användning av DTP som en modalitet av haptisk andningsfeedback, och den möjliggör ett stödjande av interoceptisk medvetenhet och avslappning. Andningsvästen tillät mig att delta i en dialog med min egen kropp, och fungerade som en ständig påminnelse att vända mig inåt och uppmärksamma mina somatiska upplevelser. Genom att trycka min bröstkorg framåt kunde aktuatorerna engagera hela min kropp när de svarade mot min andning, vilket skapade en känsla av intimitet, trygghet och att vara omhändertagen. Detta examensarbete uppmärksammar ett område som tidigare varit outforskat inom HCI av djuptrycksterapi och biosensorteknik kring den subjektiva upplevelsen av dess emotionella och kognitiva påverkan. Det långvariga engagemanget med aktivt upplevande av olika andningstekniker öppnade upp en stor designrymd kring tryckbaserade aktuatorer i en kontext av andning. Det visar på ett flertal experimentella kvaliteter och affordances av de formförändrande tryckluftsaktuatorerna, såsom: att applicera ett gradvis ökande och markant tryck för att dra uppmärksamheten till specifika kroppsdelar, men också för att bryta det vanliga andningsmönstret genom asynkron och asymmetrisk mönsterpåverkan; att ta en ledande eller följande roll i interaktionen, ibland båda samtidigt; och att agera som en tröstande följeslagare, eller som en kommunikationskanal mellan två människor, likväl som mellan en person och hennes soma.

abstract: Access to real-time situational information including the relative position and motion of surrounding objects is critical for safe and independent travel. Object or obstacle (OO) detection at a distance is primarily a task of the visual system due to the high resolution information the eyes are able to receive from afar. As a sensory organ in particular, the eyes have an unparalleled ability to adjust to varying degrees of light, color, and distance. Therefore, in the case of a non-visual traveler, someone who is blind or low vision, access to visual information is unattainable if it is positioned beyond the reach of the preferred mobility device or outside the path of travel. Although, the area of assistive technology in terms of electronic travel aids (ETA’s) has received considerable attention over the last two decades; surprisingly, the field has seen little work in the area focused on augmenting rather than replacing current non-visual travel techniques, methods, and tools. Consequently, this work describes the design of an intuitive tactile language and series of wearable tactile interfaces (the Haptic Chair, HaptWrap, and HapBack) to deliver real-time spatiotemporal data. The overall intuitiveness of the haptic mappings conveyed through the tactile interfaces are evaluated using a combination of absolute identification accuracy of a series of patterns and subjective feedback through post-experiment surveys. Two types of spatiotemporal representations are considered: static patterns representing object location at a single time instance, and dynamic patterns, added in the HaptWrap, which represent object movement over a time interval. Results support the viability of multi-dimensional haptics applied to the body to yield an intuitive understanding of dynamic interactions occurring around the navigator during travel. Lastly, it is important to point out that the guiding principle of this work centered on providing the navigator with spatial knowledge otherwise unattainable through current mobility techniques, methods, and tools, thus, providing the \emph{navigator} with the information necessary to make informed navigation decisions independently, at a distance.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Computer Science 2020

碩士
淡江大學
電機工程學系碩士班
106
For enhancing the human interactive experience, adding multiple tactile sensations is one of the quick and useful methods. In this work, we design a wearable device with multi-haptic feedback. Our device allow the human interactive designers to rapidly prototype their apparatus with tactile sensations, such as cold, heat, vibration, electric, and squeeze feedback. Therefore, the human interactive designers can explore the interactive device with haptics by combination of several haptic modules. Additionally, we develop the control program with graphic interface to control the multiple tactile modules on the windows and android systems. Designers can simply use the control program to combine multi- haptic feedback on this wearable device. According field trials, most subjects agree that the proposed system provides better user experience.