Perception of Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces
Extensive past work has taken place to characterise the human perception of stimulus such as vibration or sound. However, this information is lacking for the emergent area of shape-changing haptic interfaces. Our lab is the first to try and change this, via rigourous user testing with precision shape-changing test rigs.
Read a Paper: Qihan Yang, Xin Zhou, and A. J. Spiers, "Investigating the Perception of Translational Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces" in IEEE World Haptics (WHC), 2025 [accepted]
Haptic Guidance for Vision Impaired People
We've been working on developing navigation (spatial guidance) tools for vision impaired people using shape-chaning haptic technology. Here's a video from Reuters describing a study we ran in collaboration with MakeSense Ltd.
Read a Paper: Quinn, R., Murtough, S., de Winton, H. et al. "A shape-changing haptic navigation interface for vision impairment" Nature Scientific Reports, 2024
Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces
The sense of touch is great at delivering information without relying on sight or sound, but the common haptics approach of using vibration feedback can lead to additional problems of distraction or numbness. We leverage the human ability to percieve shape by making shape-changing devices to communicate spatial information.
Read a Paper: Spiers AJ, Dollar AM, 2017, Design and evaluation of shape-changing haptic interfaces for pedestrian navigation assistance, IEEE Transactions on Haptics, Vol: 10, Pages: 17-28, ISSN: 1939-1412