Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces

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Research Overview

Natural Embodied Touch

Finger-Surface Contact Mechanics in Diverse Moisture Conditions

Perceptual Integration of Contact Force Components During Fingertip Sliding

Material Intelligence of Animal Whiskers

Artificial Touch Sensing and Processing

Giving Touch to Soft Robot Fingertips Using Vision, Audio and Machine Learning

Capturing and Recognizing Multimodal Surface Interactions

Multimodal Puncture Detection for Urgent Percutaneous Therapies

Haptic Actuation

Quantifying the Quality of Haptic Interfaces

Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces

Generating Clear Vibrotactile Cues with Magnets Embedded in a Soft Finger Sheath

Salient Full-Fingertip Haptic Feedback Enabled by Wearable Electrohydraulic Actuation

Cutaneous Electrohydraulic (CUTE) Wearable Devices for Pleasant Broad-Bandwidth Haptic Cues

Modeling Finger-Touchscreen Contact during Electrovibration

Perception of Ultrasonic Friction Pulses

CAPT Motor: A Two-Phase Ironless Motor Structure

Immersive Teleoperation

4D Intraoperative Surgical Perception: Anatomical Shape Reconstruction from Multiple Viewpoints

Visual-Inertial Force Estimation in Robotic Surgery

Enhancing Robotic Surgical Training

AiroTouch: Naturalistic Vibrotactile Feedback for Large-Scale Telerobotic Assembly

Optimization-Based Whole-Arm Teleoperation for Natural Human-Robot Interaction

Human-Robot Interaction

Enhancing HRI through Responsive Multimodal Feedback

Haptic Empathetic Robot Animal (HERA)

How does HuggieBot compare to a human hugging partner?

HuggieBot: Evolution of an Interactive Hugging Robot with Visual and Haptic Perception

Human Movement

Reconstructing Sign-Language Movements from Images and Bioimpedance Measurements

Advancing Gait-Retraining Techniques

Multimodal Sensing Reveals the Dynamics of Time-Constrained Teamwork

Previous HI Projects

Finger-Surface Contact Mechanics in Diverse Moisture Conditions

Computational Modeling of Finger-Surface Contact

Perceptual Integration of Contact Force Components During Tactile Stimulation

Dynamic Models and Wearable Tactile Devices for the Fingertips

Novel Designs and Rendering Algorithms for Fingertip Haptic Devices

Dimensional Reduction from 3D to 1D for Realistic Vibration Rendering

Prendo: Analyzing Human Grasping Strategies for Visually Occluded Objects

Learning Upper-Limb Exercises from Demonstrations

Minimally Invasive Surgical Training with Multimodal Feedback and Automatic Skill Evaluation

Efficient Large-Area Tactile Sensing for Robot Skin

Haptic Feedback and Autonomous Reflexes for Upper-limb Prostheses

Gait Retraining

Modeling Hand Deformations During Contact

Intraoperative AR Assistance for Robot-Assisted Minimally Invasive Surgery

Immersive VR for Phantom Limb Pain

Visual and Haptic Perception of Real Surfaces

Haptipedia

Gait Propulsion Trainer

TouchTable: A Musical Interface with Haptic Feedback for DJs

Exercise Games with Baxter

Intuitive Social-Physical Robots for Exercise

How Should Robots Hug?

Hierarchical Structure for Learning from Demonstration

Fabrication of HuggieBot 2.0: A More Huggable Robot

Learning Haptic Adjectives from Tactile Data

Feeling With Your Eyes: Visual-Haptic Surface Interaction

S-BAN

General Tactile Sensor Model

Insight: a Haptic Sensor Powered by Vision and Machine Learning

Haptic Intelligence Members Publications

Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces

Height100 width191 — The three shape-changing haptic interfaces we have created. A pedestrian navigates by feeling directions through the S-BAN's shape. Drangle and Brangle use shape change to enable workers to drill holes and place bricks at specified angles.

We are exploring the potential of physical shape change for haptic feedback. The S-BAN provides navigation guidance by pivoting left/right and extending/retracting its body [

], while Drangle and Brangle use graded bidirectional edge-changing cues to help a user orient objects in space [].

Haptic devices are a promising alternative to devices with visual feedback, which demands one's gaze and is inaccessible to vision-impaired people, and audio feedback, which can mask or be masked by environmental sounds and is inaccessible to hearing-impaired people. Shape-changing devices are a subset of haptic interfaces that provide tangible feedback by physically transforming their shape; this transformation can easily be perceived by the body part contacting the device.

We are exploring how such devices can be used to guide human motion, such as rotation and translation. Shape-changing feedback can be particularly intuitive for this task because the device itself can rotate and translate to different poses in the hand of the user. We created three shape-changing devices that assist people with real-world tasks: the S-BAN (Shape-Based-Assistance for Navigation) provides navigation guidance, and Drangle and Brangle guide users in construction tasks.

The S-BAN is a handheld haptic device that can pivot left/right and extend/retract its body [], opening up possibilities and questions around spatial data representation through touch. To date, we have tested the feedback of the S-BAN via perceptual studies and embodied navigation tasks in virtual reality, where user performance with the S-BAN was compared to other navigation modalities. Results indicated highest user sensitivity to guidance cues in the cardinal directions and equivalent navigation efficiency, slower navigation time, and a more elevated gaze when compared to vision-based guidance from a smartphone proxy.

Drangle helps a user orient a drill when drilling angled holes, and Brangle guides a user to place bricks in a curvilinear arrangement []. Both devices use graded bidirectional edge-changing cues to guide the user to the target orientation. In a user study, participants understood the shape-changing feedback and enjoyed using both devices. Users strongly preferred Drangle over a mechanical drill guide, and they found Drangle's fingertip feedback more intuitive than Brangle's palmar cues. Future work includes integrating such devices into systems that can improve construction workflows relevant to IntCDC.

This research project involves collaborations with Tiffany Cheng (University of Stuttgart), Achim Menges (University of Stuttgart), Yasaman Tahouni (University of Stuttgart), and Dylan Wood (University of Stuttgart).

Members

Haptic Intelligence

Naomi Tashiro

Doctoral Researcher

Haptic Intelligence

Adam Spiers

Haptic Intelligence

Eric Young

Robotics

Robert Faulkner

Technical Staff

Haptic Intelligence

Bernard Javot

Research Engineer

Haptic Intelligence

Samantha Melnyk

Haptic Intelligence

Tamara Rosales

Haptic Intelligence

Katherine J. Kuchenbecker

Director

Publications

Haptic Intelligence Robotics Article Building Instructions You Can Feel: Edge-Changing Haptic Devices for Digitally Guided Construction Tashiro, N., Faulkner, R., Melnyk, S., Rosales Rodriguez, T., Javot, B., Tahouni, Y., Cheng, T., Wood, D., Menges, A., Kuchenbecker, K. J. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 32(1):1-40, April 2025 (Published)

Abstract ›

Recent efforts to connect builders to digital designs during construction have primarily focused on visual augmented reality, which requires accurate registration and specific lighting, and which could prevent a user from noticing safety hazards. Haptic interfaces, on the other hand, can convey physical design parameters through tangible local cues that don't distract from the surroundings. We propose two edge-changing haptic devices that use small inertial measurement units (IMUs) and linear actuators to guide users to perform construction tasks in real time: Drangle gives feedback for angling a drill relative to gravity, and Brangle assists with orienting bricks in the plane. We conducted a study with 18 participants to evaluate user performance and gather qualitative feedback. All users understood the edge-changing cues from both devices with minimal training. Drilling holes with Drangle was somewhat less accurate but much faster and easier than with a mechanical guide; 89% of participants preferred Drangle over the mechanical guide. Users generally understood Brangle's feedback but found its hand-size-specific grip, palmar contact, and attractive tactile cues less intuitive than Drangle's generalized form factor, fingertip contact, and repulsive cues. After summarizing design considerations, we propose application scenarios and speculate how such devices could improve construction workflows.

DOI BibTeX

Haptic Intelligence Article The S-BAN: Insights into the Perception of Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces via Virtual Pedestrian Navigation Spiers, A. J., Young, E., Kuchenbecker, K. J. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 30(1):1-31, February 2023 (Published)

Abstract ›

Screen-based pedestrian navigation assistance can be distracting or inaccessible to users. Shape-changing haptic interfaces can overcome these concerns. The S-BAN is a new handheld haptic interface that utilizes a parallel kinematic structure to deliver 2-DOF spatial information over a continuous workspace, with a form factor suited to integration with other travel aids. The ability to pivot, extend and retract its body opens possibilities and questions around spatial data representation. We present a static study to understand user perception of absolute pose and relative motion for two spatial mappings, showing highest sensitivity to relative motions in the cardinal directions. We then present an embodied navigation experiment in virtual reality. User motion efficiency when guided by the S-BAN was statistically equivalent to using a vision-based tool (a smartphone proxy). Although haptic trials were slower than visual trials, participants' heads were more elevated with the S-BAN, allowing greater visual focus on the environment.

DOI BibTeX

Haptic Intelligence Miscellaneous Explorations of Shape-Changing Haptic Interfaces for Blind and Sighted Pedestrian Navigation Spiers, A., Kuchenbecker, K. J. Workshop paper (6 pages) presented at the CHI Workshop on Hacking Blind Navigation, Glasgow, UK, May 2019 (Published)

Abstract ›

Since the 1960s, technologists have worked to develop systems that facilitate independent navigation by vision-impaired (VI) pedestrians. These devices vary in terms of conveyed information and feedback modality. Unfortunately, many such prototypes never progress beyond laboratory testing. Conversely, smartphone-based navigation systems for sighted pedestrians have grown in robustness and capabilities, to the point of now being ubiquitous. How can we leverage the success of sighted navigation technology, which is driven by a larger global market, as a way to progress VI navigation systems? We believe one possibility is to make common devices that benefit both VI and sighted individuals, by providing information in a way that does not distract either user from their tasks or environment. To this end we have developed physical interfaces that eschew visual, audio or vibratory feedback, instead relying on the natural human ability to perceive the shape of a handheld object.

URL BibTeX

Haptic Intelligence Master Thesis Haptic Reality: Novel Interfacing for Informed Assembly Systems Tashiro, N., Faulkner, R., Melnyk, S., Rosales, T. University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, 2019 (Published) BibTeX