An Investigation of Multimodal Interaction with Tactile Displays
Principal researcher
Name: Prof. Stephen Brewster
Project details
Start date: 01/10/2003
End date: 30/09/2008
Description: The area of haptic (touch-based) HCI has grown rapidly over the last few years. A range of new applications has be possible now that touch can be used as an interaction technique. However, most current haptic devices have scant provision for tactile stimulation, being primarily kinaesthetic devices. The cutaneous (skin-based) component is igno even though it is a key part of our experience of touch. Devices are now becoming available that allow tactile display little research has gone into how they might actually be used at the user interface. The innovative aspect of this research is to open up a new area of study into the cutaneous aspects of HCI and to investigate a range of tactile displays to improve the whole experience of computer haptics. The research has two strands. The first is an investigation of tac cue design, the combination of tactile and kinaesthetic displays and combined tactile auditory multimodal displays. The second strand is the application of this knowledge of tactile interface design to the key application domains of accessibility to visualisations for blind users and mobile/wearable computer interfaces. In both of these areas interact limitations mean that tactile displays can make a major contribution to usability.
Other organisations involved in this project
Royal National College for the Blind
Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Last updated: 07/04/2008