HapToes: Using Toes as a Medium for Implicit Haptic Communication

Jun 1, 2018

This project evolved from the smart wearable domain of the Shared Reality Lab. We were looking for methods for conveying broader subset of information on feet and came up with an idea of using toes as a tactile rendering location.

It was a challenging project as tactile stimuli on toes are not as easily perceived as on fingers. We went through multiple iterations on hardware front and experimented with different tactons to finalize a feasible rendering.

We designed and conducted two usability studies. In the first, we compared the tactile perception on fingers vs toes and in the second one we tested that whether we can use our designed tactile rendering to convey numeric information on toes.

We have compiled our findings in our submission to joint publication in IEEE Haptics Symposium and IEEE Transaction on Haptics, which is currently under review.

Haptics Project Lead

Hi! I am Preeti

I am a PhD Student

I research affective haptics and its applications in facilitating emotion regulation.

Publications

Foot-based Haptic Interfaces for Numeric Information Delivery and Dance Learning

As a primary contribution, this thesis demonstrates the usability of toes as an ordered ten-unit tactile display; this can significantly increase the extent of information communicated via the feet. As a secondary contribution, it presents a novel design of haptic-augmented shoes for facilitating dance learning; this adds to the research direction of haptic-assisted guidance and motor learning.

Preeti Vyas

Foot-based Haptic Interfaces for Numeric Information Delivery and Dance Learning

HapToes: Vibrotactile Numeric Information Delivery via Tactile Toe Display

We designed HapToes, a novel ten-digit spatial mapping of numeric information to the toes, which overcomes inter-toe discrimination ambiguity.

Preeti Vyas, Feras Al Taha, Jeffery R. Blum, Jeremy R. Cooperstock

HapToes: Vibrotactile Numeric Information Delivery via Tactile Toe Display

Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes: Can Toes Match Fingers for Haptic Discrimination?

Toes can approach perceptual accuracy for haptic discrimination of fingers if we used a specific tactile encoding proposed in the work.

Preeti Vyas, Feras Al Taha, Jeffery R. Blum, Antoine Weill-Duflos, Jeremy R. Cooperstock

Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes: Can Toes Match Fingers for Haptic Discrimination?