EyesOnMe: Investigating Haptic and Visual User Guidance for Near-Eye Positioning of Mobile Phones for Self-Eye-Examinations

The scarcity of professional ophthalmic equipment in rural areas and during exceptional situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for tele-ophthalmology. This late-breaking work presents a novel method for guiding users to a specific pose (3D position and 3D orientation) near the eye for mobile self-eye examinations using a smartphone. The user guidance is implemented utilizing haptic and visual modalities to guide the user and subsequently capture a close-up photo of the user's eyes. In a within-subject user study (n=24), the required time, success rate, and perceived demand for the visual and haptic feedback conditions were examined. The results indicate that haptic feedback was the most efficient and least cognitively demanding in the positioning task near the eye, whereas relying on only visual feedback can be more difficult due to the near focus point or refractive errors. © 2023 Owner/Author.

Tactile Based Intelligence Touch Technology in IoT Configured WCN in B5G/6G-A Survey

Touch-enabled sensation and actuation are expected to be the most promising, straightforward, and important uses of the B5G/6G communication networks. In light of the next generation (6G) systems' prerequisite for low latency, the infrastructure should be reconfigurable, intelligent, and interoperable in the real-time existing wireless network. It has a drastic impact on society due to its high precision, accuracy, reliability, and efficiency, combined with the ability to connect a user from remote areas. Hence, the touch-enabled interaction is primarily concerned with the real-time transmission of tactile-based haptic information over the internet, in addition to the usual audio, visual, and data traffic, thus enabling a paradigm shift towards a real-time control and steering communication system. The existing system latency and overhead often have delays and limitations on the application's usability. In light of the aforementioned concerns, the study proposes an intelligent touch-enabled system for B5G/6G and an IoT-based wireless communication network, incorporating AR/VR technologies. The tactile internet and network-slicing serve as the backbone of touch technology and incorporates intelligence from techniques such as artificial intelligence and machine/deep learning. The survey also introduces a layered and interfacing architecture with its E2E solution for the intelligent touch-based wireless communication system. It is anticipated for the upcoming 6G system to provide numerous opportunities for various sectors to utilize AR/VR technology in robotics and healthcare facilities to help in addressing several problems faced by society. Conclusively the article presents a few use cases concerning the deployment of touch infrastructure in automation, robotics, and intelligent healthcare systems, assisting in the diagnosis and treatment of the prevailing Covid-19 cases. The paper concludes with some considerable future research aspects of the proposed system with a few ongoing projects concerning the development and incorporation of the 6G wireless communication system.

INTER/her: An immersive journey inside the female body – Experience reflections

INTER/her is an immersive installation and virtual reality artwork highlighting (post)reproductive diseases that women over 30 frequently experience, including endometriosis, fibroids, polyps, ovarian and other cysts and growths, as well as the more serious cervical, ovarian, uterine and endometrial cancers. The artwork presents an , intimate immersive journey within the inner world of women's bodies, exposing the diseases they can suffer. INTER/her is intended as a personal exploration, conversation starter and community builder. This article discusses the development experience, exhibition and discoveries from INTER/her since its inception to the present. It explores the nature, staging and significance of the piece and what is implicated for future work in this area for art, design and research. It reveals the design process, visual and narrative elements made to represent, convey and understand the emotional and bodily/sensorial experience intended for visitors, as well as the visual metaphors representing the different organs and ailments. It covers the collaborative approach of the design team, using various technologies and the storytelling techniques used in the work during the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, from autumn 2020 to May 2021. © 2022 Intellect Ltd Article. English language.

Enhancing Notification Awareness for Online Presenters via a Wrist-Worn Device

The practice of giving presentations online has exploded during the Covid pandemic. However, in these settings, presenters often find themselves overlooking questions and feedback, e.g. via chat, from the audience, because the presenter's screen is dominated by their slides, with other channels becoming less noticeable. This causes frustration among presenters and their audience alike. We investigate the impact of additional visual, auditory, and haptic cues for presenters in online scenarios, using a wrist-worn prototype. For this, we conducted a study where participants gave presentations via the videoconferencing tool Zoom on specific topics while trying to notice and correctly identify incoming notifications. Our findings indicate that supplementary notifications can be helpful in online presentations without inappropriately disturbing the presenter. © 2023 Owner/Author.

Tangible Construction Kit for Blind and Partially Sighted Drawers

Drawing as an activity aids problem solving, collaboration, and presentation in design, science, and engineering and artistic creativity as well as expression in the arts. Unfortunately, blind, and partially sighted learners still lack an inclusive and effective drawing tool, even in the digital age. In response, this research aims to explore what an effective drawing tool for blind and partially sighted individuals (BPSI) would be. Raised-line drawing kits aim to provide this, but in prior work, our usability tests of raised line graphics with blind and partially sighted participants rated the raised line graphics that we tested as barely comprehensible relative to 3D models, which they rated as highly comprehensible. Semi-structured interviews with our participants afterward suggest that they found 3D models to be more comprehensible because these are consistent with haptic principles of perception whereas conventions of raised line graphics, such as a line representing a surface edge, replicate visual cues of source images and thereby violate haptic principles of perception. Therefore, we hypothesize that a drawing tool for blind and partially sighted drawers could be effective by recruiting affordances of 3D models. Through co-design sessions conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic with blind and partially sighted drawers (BPSD), we prototyped a tangible 3D model construction kit for non-visual haptic drawing with a digital interface to a 3D virtual environment. Our current investigation of user needs is informing us of our ongoing iterative development of an accessible 3D scanning application that is enabling blind and partially sighted individuals to build and scan in 3D models constructed from a more flexible range of materials beyond what was possible with our previous prototype.

Designing a Pseudo-Haptics Study for Virtual Anesthesia Skills Development

Pseudo-haptics refers to the simulation of haptic sensations without the use of haptic interfaces, using, for example, audiovisual feedback and kinesthetic cues. Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to online learning, there has been a recent interest in pseudo-haptics as it can help facilitate psychomotor skills development away from simulation centers and laboratories. Here we present work-in-progress that describes the study design of a pseudo-haptics for virtual anesthesia skills development. We anticipate this work will provide greater insight to pseudo-haptics and its application to anesthesia-based training. © 2022 IEEE.

Presenting fabrics in digital environment: fashion designers' perspectives on communicating tactile qualities of the fabrics

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced the fashion industry to digitalize the conventional work system. Fashion designers were required to work from home, and textile trade shows were held online. However, fabric suppliers were unable to present their fabrics in a manner that enabled their properties to be easily understood. Visual information, such as photographs, videos, and the brief explanations provided by fabric suppliers were insufficient for fashion designers to comprehend the fabric's properties. Thus, this research aims to identify the critical information for fashion designers in their digital fabric search and to discover effective ways to present this information. The current state of online tactile information was analyzed by conducting content analysis on several online fabric retailers. Then, semi-structured one-on-one in-depth interviews with 25 fashion designers were conducted to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the existing types of visual and textual information. Results revealed the most effective ways to present fabrics online. Specific guidelines were established for photographing or writing each type of information. Finally, a conceptual framework for fabric tactile communication in digital environments was developed. This study can contribute to the improvement of a designer's experience in online fabric markets and can be used as a fundamental guide on designer's tactile perception of fabrics, which can support technologies, such as haptic devices and 3D clothing simulation software. © 2022, The Author(s).

Studio-based architecture pedagogies in the new normal

The COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020 and forced entire communities into widespread social distancing. This impacted education with the cancellation of face-to-face learning and a turn toward online, remote, and digital platforms for teaching and learning. The impact of this was heavily felt in studio-based subjects such as architecture, where working exclusively within the digital environment can reduce discursive qualities, limiting material observation, fabrication, and assembly as part of an evidence-based design argument. As programs and professors attempted to transpose their courses and assignments into an eLearning solution, they faced the challenge of meeting or reconsidering traditional approaches, supporting infrastructure and their definition of 'making culture' in the context of a professional architecture degree. This paper presents findings from an ongoing research study investigating student reported perceptions toward novel teaching pedagogies.

Effects of haptic imagery on purchase intention

The COVID‑19 pandemic has increased the popularity of online shopping, and companies are looking for ways to provide consumers with experiences that online shopping cannot provide, such as touching products and imagining them in use. In this context, the importance of haptic imagery of products showcased online is increasing. This study replicated and extended Peck et al.'s (2013, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23, 189–196) finding that physical control and psychological ownership mediate the influence of haptic imagery on purchase intention. This study showed that imagining touching a product increased purchase intention through the mediation of physical control and psychological ownership compared with not imagining, conceptually replicating Peck et al.'s study. This study also examined the moderating effect of product involvement and showed that there was no moderator role of product involvement. The findings would have a practical application in marketing, such as encouraging consumers to imagine touching the product.

Assistive Telexistence System Using Motion Blending

Robotic avatar and telexistence systems have risen in prominence after the covid-19 pandemic, where current telecommunication methods are limited in terms of physical interaction abilities. Most existing systems focus on manual control of the remote robot, where the robot's arms and head movements follow the user's movements. Despite the effectiveness of such controls in conveying high levels of embodiment, such control methods jeopardize the efficiency of controls, especially for complex physical manipulation tasks, unclear environments, or unstable communication. Therefore, we propose an assistive-manipulation method to augment users' control of a telexistence robot during physical manipulation tasks. Machine Learning (ML) was used in the remote environment to localize target objects. This information is sent to the local environment where an inverse kinematic (IK) solution to hold the intended object is generated. The generated IK solution is fused with the one generated by the user's arm movements. The system enables generating various levels of IK fusion. However, an essential aspect of telexistence is to maintain high levels of embodiment and body ownership over the remote robot. Therefore, the evaluation in this paper focuses on investigating the effect of haptic feedback and the level of IK fusion on body ownership. The results indicate that haptic feedback induced a sense of assurance of task completion and enabling assistance from the system improved the user's sense of control over the robotic arm. © 2022 IEEE.

Exploring the Role of Electro-Tactile and Kinesthetic Feedback in Telemanipulation Task

Teleoperation of robotic systems for precise and delicate object grasping requires high-fidelity haptic feedback to obtain comprehensive real-time information about the grasp. In such cases, the most common approach is to use kinesthetic feedback. However, a single contact point information is insufficient to detect the dynamically changing shape of soft objects. This paper proposes a novel telemanipulation system that provides kinesthetic and cutaneous stimuli to the user's hand to achieve accurate liquid dispensing by dexterously manipulating the deformable object (i.e., pipette). The experimental results revealed that the proposed approach to provide the user with multimodal haptic feedback considerably improves the quality of dosing with a remote pipette. Compared with pure visual feedback, the relative dosing error decreased by 66% and task execution time decreased by 18% when users manipulated the deformable pipette with a multimodal haptic interface in combination with visual feedback. The proposed technology can be potentially implemented in delicate dosing procedures during the antibody tests for COVID-19, chemical experiments, operation with organic materials, and telesurgery. © 2022 IEEE.

An Experience of Using a Handwriting Haptic Device to Fine-Tune the Children Motor Skills

Handwriting can help children to improve their learning of a language and fine-tune their motor skills. Every child needs to develop her/his handwriting skill to grasp new concepts appropriately and learn the language vocabulary. Therefore, in-hand manipulation of the traditional pen is highly important to develop pre-writing and transform the scribbled writings to legible ones at a later stage. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of a customized haptic device in improving the children motor skills and their handwriting quality of Arabic letters. We use the Touch™ device from the 3D-Systems company with a controllable stylus that can be adapted to children needs. Fifteen pupils from the Deutsch International School in Doha, have participated in this experience after obtaining all necessary ethical approvals from concerned stakeholders. We conducted the experiments for a period of two weeks with the assistance of the school instructors and staff. Results show that there is an important increase of children motivation, and a good improvement of their motor skills and handwriting experience. The device can be used at home to learn independently during COVID-19 pandemic that continues to hit severely the whole world and enforces schools to adapt online teaching approach. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Exploring views on affective haptic devices in times of COVID-19

Affective haptic devices (AHDs) are communication technologies utilizing the sense of touch, and include mediated social touch (MST), symbolic haptic messaging, and awareness systems that, for example, let one feel another person's heartbeat. The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent social distancing measures have led to a reemphasis of the importance of social touch, and many people have experienced firsthand what it is like to miss touching loved ones. This offers an excellent opportunity to study people's intention to use AHDs. For this purpose, a survey study (n = 277) was conducted combining qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods. Touch deprivation, resulting from not being able to touch a loved one, was associated with intention to use AHDs: the more deprived an individual, the higher his or her intention to use AHDs. Technology readiness and touch aversion did not affect intention to use AHDs. AHDs for symbolic messaging gained higher interest than MST and awareness devices, and long-distance relationships were seen as the most likely scenario for using AHDs. Bi-directionality, synchronicity, and symmetry were regarded as important features for providing shared meaning and a sense of connectedness. Reviewability, multimodality, and actuation type were also deemed important. Limitations of the study and implications for the design of AHDs are discussed.

Looking for haptics. Touch digitalization business strategies in luxury and fashion during COVID-19 and beyond

The sense of touch is central to fashion and luxury, because dress - garments and accessories - is experienced with and on the body. But on e-commerce websites, dress is dematerialized, and touch sensation simulated using audio-visual means. The growth of digital fashion communication during the COVID-19 pandemic has spotlighted this issue. However, developments in haptic technologies suggest that new modes of tactile interaction could be available in the online domain. Through interviews with fourteen fashion and luxury executives in Italy and Switzerland, this article investigates touch digitalization strategies during COVID-19 and the potential which haptics may hold to fill the online tactile void, using two surface haptic technologies as prompts. By doing so, this research fills a gap in the study of digital fashion and haptics, to the benefit of the academic and practitioner communities. Results indicate that executives deployed a host of visualization tactics during lockdown, reinforcing their conviction that still and moving images furnish an acceptable surrogate for touch sensation in the online domain. In fact, participants questioned the value of mediated tactile feedback provided by surface haptic devices. However, these experts also concurred that the technology holds promise, envisioning future use of haptic technologies in digital business-to-business and end-consumer markets. These could include haptic data integration within virtual prototyping, haptically enriched digital content for customer engagement, multisensory brand promotions in mixed or virtual reality, and phygital experiences.

Excitement Projector: Augmenting Excitement-Perception and Arousal through Bio-signal-based Haptic Feedback in Remote-SportWatching

For non-sport fans, perceiving the excitement of surrounding fan groups and the arousal of collective emotions are some of the crucial factors that motivate their engaged excitement and loyalty in a sport;these factors are closely related to the process of evolution from a non-fan to a fan. The global COVID-19 pandemic changed the way of sport-watching from watching at the arena to watching from home alone. This has highlighted significant difficulties in the excitement transmission and arousal channel between non-sport fans and fans. Previous remote emotional intervening mediums had been limited to the use of virtual avatars to convey partners' external cues (such as appearance), to enhance the sense of presence from visual-audio perspectives. In this study, we explored a novel remote emotional intervening medium that conveys sport-fans' internal cues (bio-signals) that are widely believed to be related to internal emotional states of human, and displays those signals in a way that gives non-sport fans a deeper and more immersive experience: haptic feedback experience. Three bio-signal-based haptic feedback prototypes were developed, including heart-rate-based vibration, electromyography (EMG)-based pressure, and skin-temperature-based thermal feedbacks. An exploratory pilot study was conducted on a group of non-sport fans in a lab-control environment of remote-sport-watching to explore the effectiveness of the proposed mediums in enhancing their perception of sport-fan's excitement (emotion perception). Besides, we also analyzed non-sport fans' heart rate data when they were participants in the experiments to measure the performance of the proposed mediums in evoking the engaged excitement of non-sport fans (emotion arousal). Our results indicate the outstanding ability of EMG-based pressure feedback in effectively enhancing the process of emotion perception and the notable advantage of heart-rate-based vibration feedback in the arousal of non-sport fans' engaged excitement. This study presents the potential utility of bio-signal-based haptic feedback in augmenting remote emotional perception and arousal and also provides the underlining support for the future exploration and development directions for social computing based on bio-signals and haptic technologies. © 2022 ACM.

Reproduce the movement of the injection needle with a haptic device

During the COVID-19 pandemic, personnel shortages for vaccinations and differences between new methods and conventional methods were encountered. Therefore, this study investigates the characteristics of a force-feedback device as the key component of a medical training system that reproduces the actions of a clinical injection. © 2022 IEEE.

StressMincer: Enhancement of Catharsis Effect by Visualization ofWords and Destruction with Haptic Feedback

We are constantly exposed to mental stress in our daily lives, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic. To cope with this issue, we developed StressMincer, an interactive system that combines two stress-relieving factors: expression of negative emotion and destruction. The users obtain catharsis effect by putting negative emotions into words, and a force feedback mechanism enables users to destroy these words by their actions. Three different destructive experiences were developed;shredding, burning by flamethrower, and flushing with toilet water. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Tactile Telepresence for Isolated Patients

For isolated patients, such as COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit, conventional video tools can provide a degree of visual telepresence. However, video alone offers, at best, an approximation of a "through a window" metaphor-remote visitors, such as loved ones, cannot touch the patient to provide reassurance. Here, we present preliminary work aimed at providing an isolated patient and remote visitors with audiovisual interactions that are augmented by mediated social touch-the perception of being touched for the isolated patient, and the perception of touching for the remote visitor. We developed a tactile telepresence system prototype that provides a remote visitor with a tablet-based, touch-video interface for conveying touch patterns on the forehead of an isolated patient. The isolated patient can see the remote visitor, see themselves with the touch patterns indicated on their forehead, and feel the touch patterns through a vibrotactile headband interface. We motivate the work, describe the system prototype, and present results from pilot studies investigating the technical feasibility of the system, along with the social and emotional affects of using the prototype system.

Tangible Construction Kit for Blind and Partially Sighted Drawers: Co-Designing a cross-sensory 3D interface with blind and partially sighted drawers during Covid-19

Drawing as an activity aids problem solving, collaboration, and presentation in design, science, and engineering and artistic creativity as well as expression in the arts. Unfortunately, blind, and partially sighted learners still lack an inclusive and effective drawing tool, even in the digital age. In response, this research aims to explore what an effective drawing tool for blind and partially sighted individuals (BPSI) would be. Raised-line drawing kits aim to provide this, but in prior work, our usability tests of raised line graphics with blind and partially sighted participants rated the raised line graphics that we tested as barely comprehensible relative to 3D models, which they rated as highly comprehensible. Semi-structured interviews with our participants afterward suggest that they found 3D models to be more comprehensible because these are consistent with haptic principles of perception whereas conventions of raised line graphics, such as a line representing a surface edge, replicate visual cues of source images and thereby violate haptic principles of perception. Therefore, we hypothesize that a drawing tool for blind and partially sighted drawers could be effective by recruiting affordances of 3D models. Through co-design sessions conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic with blind and partially sighted drawers (BPSD), we prototyped a tangible 3D model construction kit for non-visual haptic drawing with a digital interface to a 3D virtual environment. Our current investigation of user needs is informing us of our ongoing iterative development of an accessible 3D scanning application that is enabling blind and partially sighted individuals to build and scan in 3D models constructed from a more flexible range of materials beyond what was possible with our previous prototype. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Hovering and Contact Representation of Laser Contour-Based Hand with Swinging Tablet PC for Distant Communication

As covid-19 spread worldwide, the growing trend to reduce people's mobility and the establishment of new lifestyles such as remote work, contactless communication systems have been required. Using a projected hand makes it possible to realize remote communication with a sense of presence without loading a user's physical body. However, conventional projected hand systems have a problem that the relative brightness of the hand image in a bright living room is low. Therefore, we propose a configuration that combines a video call system and a contour-based projected hand by a laser scanning projector. In addition, we incorporate a haptic feedback system with a tablet PC to improve the sense of contact with remote objects. To enhance the sense of contact in remote areas, we focus on providing the transition between hovering and contact states of the contour-based projected hand and users' hands. According to the experiment, we confirmed that there is a possibility to express hovering and contact even with simple swinging flat-panel feedback and visual effects of the contour-based projected hand. © 2022 Owner/Author.