Sensory Perception & Interaction Research Group

Participatory design of Emotionally Supportive Swarm Robots for teenagers 

SPIN research in haptic notification and movement guidance spans a number of different project arches, as seen through associated publications.

Designed as a bland, unobtrusive appliance, Calmer is a bed for premature infants that replicates mothers' breathing movement and heart rate. 

Educational haptic platforms can leverage various modalities in order create effective interactive environments that can support embodied physical interactions. These platforms have the potential to leverage a student’s physical intuition to make abstract topics in physics, math, and other fields of science more concrete. 

Creating a community for experienced hapticians and newcomers to learn, share, and explore haptic resources and projects, and investigating the challenges involved in haptic experience design for both newcomers and experienced hapticians. 

Haptipedia is a comprehensive library of haptic devices annotated with designer-relevant metadata, then accessed through an interactive visualization to assist designers in finding relevant design examples.

MacaronMix is an online, open-source tool for morphing haptic signals. Designers, researchers, and hapticians can use this tool to create and study haptic icons, and to develop new morphing algorithms. Link: http://hapticdesign.github.io/macaronmix/

The CuddleBot allows us to use an animal model of therapy to examine how touch interactions influence stress and anxiety mitigation.

A wearable haptic notification system for speakers and session chairs.

People differ widely in how they perceive and want to use tactile signals. What kind of tools are needed to support them in customizing?