Multi-modal exploration of small artifacts: an exhibition at the Gold Museum in Bogota
Proceedings of the 16th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology
Human factors in haptic contact of pliable surfaces
Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments
Cultural Heritage: A novel approach to documenting artifacts at the Gold Museum in Bogota
Computers and Graphics
The effect of the stiffness gradient on the just noticeable difference between surface regions
EuroHaptics'12 Proceedings of the 2012 international conference on Haptics: perception, devices, mobility, and communication - Volume Part I
ACM Transactions on Applied Perception (TAP) - Special issue SAP 2013
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As haptics becomes an integral component of scientific data visualization systems, there is a growing need to study "haptic glyphs" (building blocks for displaying information through the sense of touch) and quantify their information transmission capability. The present study investigated the channel capacity for transmitting information through stiffness or force magnitude. Specifically, we measured the number of stiffness or force- magnitude levels that can be reliably identified in an absolute identification paradigm. The range of stiffness and force magnitude used in the present study, 0.2-3.0 N/mm and 0.1-5.0 N, respectively, was typical of the parameter values encountered in most virtual reality or data visualization applications. Ten individuals participated in a stiffness identification experiment, each completing 250 trials. Subsequently, four of these individuals and six additional participants completed 250 trials in a force-magnitude identification experiment. A custom-designed 3 degrees-of-freedom force-feedback device, the ministick, was used for stimulus delivery. The results showed an average information transfer of 1.46 bits for stiffness identification, or equivalently, 2.8 correctly-identifiable stiffness levels. The average information transfer for force magnitude was 1.54 bits, or equivalently, 2.9 correctly-identifiable force magnitudes. Therefore, on average, the participants could only reliably identify 2-3 stiffness levels in the range of 0.2-3.0 N/mm, and 2-3 force- magnitude levels in the range of 0.1-5.0 N. Individual performance varied from 1 to 4 correctly-identifiable stiffness levels and 2 to 4 correctly-identifiable force-magnitude levels. Our results are consistent with reported information transfers for haptic stimuli. Based on the present study, it is recommended that 2 stiffness or force-magnitude levels (i.e., high and low) be used with haptic glyphs in a data visualization system, with an additional third level (medium) for more experienced users.