Control of a wearable vibrotactile device for team sport coaching

-Part 1: Effective vibration patterns for guiding the desired direction and distance to move-

Abstract

In this paper, we present a method to quickly guide a person’s motion in the context of sports coaching using vibrotactile stimuli. Users wear a ring-shaped device on the right ankle and the vibrotactile stimulus indicates where users should move. We use a tactile illusion called Phantom Tactile Sensation to produce localized vibrations at any point around the ankle in order to convey the direction to move. The desired distance to move is represented by different vibration patterns. We conducted experiments under two vibration patterns in order to evaluate their effectiveness in conveying distance. We found that distance and direction could be indicated simultaneously by using vibrotactile stimuli, but short stimuli might not be perceived while performing other tasks.