視覚障害者のための力覚提示装置を用いた仮想触地図

抄録

In this paper, we propose a virtual haptic map using a haptic device. The virtual haptic map includes haptically-displayed roads and buildings which are automatically constructed from a numerical map. This system aims to give map information and support outdoor activities to visually disabled persons. The features of this system are that customized maps such as a concavo-convex shape of the objects or friction of surfaces are easy to construct in accordance with the user's conditions. To evaluate the usability of this system, recognition experiments using simple virtual haptic maps were conducted by ten blindfolded subjects. In the experiments, recognition rates were compared between two expression methods. One method was to make the area of road concaved, and the other was to make it convexed. As a result, high recognition rates were confirmed in both methods, and it shows that this system has reasonable usability. Additionally, we found that concaved areas were touched for a long time than convexed areas. This result suggests that important information should be displayed by concave parts.