The science of interpersonal touch: An overview

Touch for Socioemotional and Physical Well-Being: A Review.

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in order to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge.

This monograph examines the existing body of work on Tangible User Interfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frameworks and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, psychology, and philosophy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limitations of TUIs and chart directions for future research.

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Tangible User Interfaces: Past, Present and Future Directions

Much of the work done in the field of tangible interaction has focused on creating tools for learning; however, in many cases, little evidence has been provided that tangible interfaces offer educational benefits compared to more conventional interaction techniques. In this paper, we present a study comparing the use of a tangible and a graphical interface as part of an interactive computer programming and robotics exhibit that we designed for the Boston Museum of Science. In this study, we have collected observations of 260 museum visitors and conducted interviews with 13 family groups. Our results show that visitors found the tangible and the graphical systems equally easy to understand. However, with the tangible interface, visitors were significantly more likely to try the exhibit and significantly more likely to actively participate in groups. In turn, we show that regardless of the condition, involving multiple active participants leads to significantly longer interaction times. Finally, we examine the role of children and adults in each condition and present evidence that children are more actively involved in the tangible condition, an effect that seems to be especially strong for girls.

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Comparing the use of tangible and graphical programming languages for informal science education

As robot technologies develop, many researchers have tried to use robots to support education. Studies have shown that robots can help students develop problem-solving abilities and learn computer programming, mathematics, and science. However, few studies discuss the use of robots to facilitate the teaching of second languages. We discuss whether language teaching needs robot support, whether robots present an appropriate medium for language instruction, and what challenges must be overcome. In order to explore the possibility of using robots as an instructional tool for teaching a second language, this paper reviews prior studies concerning educational robots and analyzes the characteristics of robots and instructional media. Furthermore, we report on the design and testing of five instruction scenarios for teaching second language. Based on our empirical experience, we provide suggestions for future research directions in the realm of robots for language education. Keyword

Exploring the Possibility of Using Humanoid Robots as Instructional Tools for Teaching a Second Language in Primary School

This paper presents the results of an exploratory comparative study in which we investigated the relationship between interface style and school-aged children's enjoyment and engagement while doing puzzles. Pairs of participants played with a jigsaw puzzle that was implemented using three different interface styles: physical (traditional), graphical and tangible. In order to investigate interactional differences between the three interface styles, we recorded subjective ratings of enjoyment, three related subscales, measured times and counts of behavioral based indications of engagement. Qualitative analysis based on observational notes and audio responses to open interview questions helped contextualize the quantitative findings and provided key insights into interactional differences not apparent in the quantitative findings. We summarize our main findings and discuss the design implications for tangible user interfaces.

Are tangibles more fun?: comparing children's enjoyment and engagement using physical, graphical and tangible user interfaces

We present an overview of Keep in Touch, a networked fabric touchscreen designed to support and maintain intimacy for couples in long distance relationships. To achieve this, a novel sensorial interface was created by combining the visual and tactile senses together. Each partner is presented with a blurred digital projection of their lover. When they touch their partner's body, the image comes into focus revealing their features. We describe how this sensory mapping creates an expressive and emotional interface allowing couples to communicate through touch, gestures, and body language.

Keep in touch: a tactile-vision intimate interface

In this paper, we describe our first prototype in implementing a robust and low-cost multi-touch and tangible system using a High Definition LCD monitor. Since our prototype utilizes an LCD, we discuss and compare the advantages that HD LCD monitors provide over projectors. Secondly, we give an overview of the sensing data the system can detect, and what interaction techniques it enables. Since our approach is scalable, we anticipate being able to implement multi-touch and tangible interactions on large high-definition LCD monitors in the future.

Hd touch: multi-touch and object sensing on a high definition lcd tv

The sense of touch has been traditionally neglected in aesthetics. However, interaction design seems to always require some level of tactility or body activity for the experience. In this paper, I first give an overview of the historical arguments against a tactile aesthetics and offer reasons why these reasons are no longer valid. In the second section, I briefly present two design projects exploring unique tactile interfaces in an attempt to reconcile tactility with the aesthetics of interaction.

The aesthetics of touch in interaction design

The EventTable technique is a tangible object tracking technique implemented on a camera vision based tabletop platform. The technique supports an event-driven -- rather than object centric -- tracking technique. Fiducial markers are distributed between objects. When objects are brought into a proximal or connected relationship, a whole marker is formed and recognized by the tracking system. Thus, rather than tracking each individual object, the system tracks user-driven events that occur when two or more objects are proximal. The technique can be used in addition to individual object tracking and touch tracking. This approach provides a reliable and flexible approach to tabletop object tracking for a wide variety of tabletop activities. We describe three prototype applications to illustrate how the distributed marker technique can be applied. We describe the advantages and limitations of this approach. We conclude with a brief discussion of how the EventTable technique enables a shift in human computer interaction research from an information-centric to an action-centric epistemological view on how users' create meaning.

Nima Motamedi

Papers

Are tangibles more fun?: comparing children's enjoyment and engagement using physical, graphical and tangible user interfaces

Keep in touch: a tactile-vision intimate interface

Hd touch: multi-touch and object sensing on a high definition lcd tv

The aesthetics of touch in interaction design

The EventTable technique: distributed fiducial markers