ComTouch : a vibrotactile mobile communication device

Abstract

This thesis presents ComTouch, a new device for enhancing interpersonal communication over distance through use of touch. The ComTouch approach investigates how the sense of touch can be remotely represented by means of a vibrotactile, or touch-and-vibration, interface. Touch has potential to improve existing remote communication by allowing tactile cues to augment the audio-visual information in real-time. The approach of ComTouch is to use this vibrotactile mapping for conveying the pressure exerted by each finger of the transmitter as patterns of vibration against the corresponding finger of the receiver. The implementation is a hand-held device that allows a user to transmit and receive patterns of vibration to and from a remote user. A pair of prototypes was built to allow exploration of remote communication using this vibrotactile mapping. The hypothesis is that the vibrotactile mapping can be used in remote communication of tactile gestures, or expressive uses of touch. User studies will be performed to gauge the information content of the signals transmitted and received using the vibrotactile device in remote communication. A report of the observed usages of the vibrotactile channel will be given. This research will allow us to identify patterns of tactile communication that may inform the design of new tactile communication devices, languages and methods.