AdapTics: A Toolkit for Creative Design and Integration of Real-Time Adaptive Mid-Air Ultrasound Tactons

Abstract

Mid-air ultrasound haptic technology can enhance user interaction and immersion in extended reality (XR) applications through contactless touch feedback. Yet, existing design tools for mid-air haptics primarily support creating tactile sensations (i.e., tactons) which cannot change at runtime. These tactons lack expressiveness in interactive scenarios where a continuous closed-loop response to user movement or environmental states is desirable. This paper introduces AdapTics, a toolkit featuring a graphical interface for rapid prototyping of adaptive tactons-dynamic sensations that can adjust at runtime based on user interactions, environmental changes, or other inputs. A software library and a Unity package accompany the graphical interface to enable integration of adaptive tactons in existing applications. We present the design space offered by AdapTics for creating adaptive mid-air ultrasound tactons and show the design tool can improve Creativity Support Index ratings for Exploration and Expressiveness in a user study with 12 XR and haptic designers.