Touch me Gently: recreating the perception of touch using a shape-memory alloy matrix

Sachith Muthukumarana, Don Samitha Elvitigala, Juan Pablo Forero Cortes, Denys J.C. Matthies, Suranga Nanayakkara

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperResearchpeer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present a wearable forearm augmentation that enables the recreation of natural touch sensation by applying shear-forces onto the skin. In contrast to previous approaches, we arrange light-weight and stretchable 3x3cm plasters in a matrix onto the skin. Individual plasters were embedded with lines of shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires to generate shear-forces. Our design is informed by a series of studies investigating the perceptibility of different sizes, spacings, and attachments of plasters on the forearm. Our matrix arrangement enables the perception of touches, for instance, feeling ones wrist being grabbed or the arm being stroked. Users rated the recreated touch sensations as being fairly similar to a real touch (4.1/5). Even without a visual representation, users were able to correctly distinguish them with an overall accuracy of 94.75%. Finally, we explored two use cases showing how AR and VR could be empowered with experiencing recreated touch sensations on the forearm.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
EditorsPernille Bjørn, Shengdong Zhao
Place of PublicationNew York NY USA
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9781450367080
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes
EventInternational Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2020 - Honolulu , United States of America
Duration: 25 Apr 202030 Apr 2020
Conference number: 38th
https://chi2020.acm.org (Website)
https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3313831 (Proceedings)

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2020
Abbreviated titleCHI 2020
Country/TerritoryUnited States of America
CityHonolulu
Period25/04/2030/04/20
Internet address

Keywords

  • haptics
  • pinching
  • recreation of touch
  • shape memory alloys
  • touch perception
  • wearable

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