Manipulating vibro-tactile sequences on mobile PC

Abstract

Tactile memory is the crucial factor in coding and transfer of the semantic information through a single vibrator. While some simulators can produce strong vibro-tactile sensations, discrimination of several tactile patterns can remain quite poor. Currently used actuators, such as shaking motor, have also technological and methodological restrictions. We designed a vibro-tactile pen and software to create tactons and semantic sequences of vibro-tactile patterns on mobile devices (iPAQ pocket PC). We proposed special games and techniques to simplify learning and manipulating vibro-tactile patterns. The technique for manipulating vibro-tactile sequences is based on gesture recognition and spatial-temporal mapping for imaging vibro-tactile signals. After training, the tactons could be used as awareness cues or the system of non-verbal communication signals. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2005.