This paper proposes the method of tension calculation for SPIDAR-tablet and evaluation of haptic accuracy. In the former earlier study, we had developed SPIDAR-tablet. However, Area where haptic can be presented accurately was narrow because of the software limitation. This study developed the method of tension calculation. Then we made on experiment confirming that the haptics was presented correctly by the subjective questionnaires. As a result, we succeeded in expanding the area where haptic can be presented accurately and confirmed correct force was presented.

We propose a new interface called SmoothCurtain that is suitable for constant use of a remote video communication system in living environment. To enable switching between conscious and ambient modes of communication smoothly and intuitively, we have adopted a metaphor of a curtain. SmoothCurtain is a video communication system through which people can remotely talk and see each other. The system mainly consists of two communcation terminals installed in remote places. Each terminal has curtains for controlling their privacy and changing the communication style flexibly. When curtains on both sides are opened completely, users can see and talk to each other clearly. When one user closes the curtains, his/her image becomes blurred and voice volume is reduced on the other terminal, depending on the opening states of the curtains. We have installed SmoothCurtain in two rooms of our university for about 14 months. In result, We have got considerable positive feedback from the users.

This paper describes MOTIVATION, the physical computing environment that is intended to motivate the user. By using this system the user can develop programs running under Windows, HTML5, and mbed. The compiler approves mistakes such as misspelling or missing variable declaration, and by using programming language HMMMML the user can make programs with a few lines.

In this information society, we have a lot of situations to use a device. But we can not always hold the device and look at the screen while controlling it. So we propose a new input interface called "ArmKeypad" which can control some devices by tapping on the human's arm anytime. Input areas are assigned to 3 parts of arm that is divided into the "upper arm", the "upper side of lower arm" and the "downside of lower arm". In this instance, we apply this suggestion to the situation of "Controlling the music player while running exercise. "This input method has 4 advantages. The first is you can use input areas widely on arm. The second is you can feel target arm's area before tapping by the arm's somesthetic sense. The third is you can feel tapped position by your tactile perception. The last is you need not memorize complex operation method for input to the command. This system is composed of acceleration sensor at the both of wrists. It can recognize tapped position by using the ratio between the amplitude of left and right acceleration's value. When you tap your own arm, the impact shock transmit into the arm, but the impact shock is decreasing depend on the length from tapped position to sensing position. On the other hand, the impact shock transmits to the sensing position directly on the tapping arm. We performed experiments for accuracy estimate for the prototype of the"ArmKeypad".

People have various notions regarding the way they like to be woken depending on their life-styles, health and schedules. We propose a novel alarmclock interface called "MediAlarm" that can wake people using a combination of various media: sound, lighting, vibrations, room temperature, and SNS. People are able to select various alarms based on their desired "wake-up level". the urgency with which they want to be woken using simple controls. This paper describes the concepts, implementation and evaluation of the MediAlarm system.

In this study, we propose a novel communication device for intimate users. We focus on kisses, since kisses are haptic communications that can express deep emotion. We considered that if we mutually present the haptic sensation to each mouth, we can convey the expression of emotion, deepen their relationship. We made a first prototype using water-balloons, and a second prototype using bended rods. We also conducted an experiment to evaluate the effect of the device to the relationship between users, by measuring frequencies of eye-contact and smiles, and confirmed the effectiveness of our device.

This paper describes experiments to compare paper and electronic media in the reading with frequently moving back and forth between pages. In the first experiment, eighteen subjects read aloud multi-page documents with endnotes in three conditions:paper, a large display, and a small display. Results revealed that reading from paper was 6.8% faster than reading from the large computer display and 11.4%faster than reading from the smallcomputer display. No difference was found between scores of recognition tests of important words of documentsamong the three conditions. This indicates that paper is the most effective medium for people to read text speedily without preventing recollection of text documents. Detailed analyses of the reading process show that, in the paper condition, people perform both reading and page-turning simultaneously. On the other hand, when using computer displays, reading and turning pages were divided completely and performed separately. In the second experiment, twelve subjects read the same documents as the first one using electronic system with more effective features forpage-turning such as an overview of pages and links from reference symbols to notes. However, paper was still most efficient media to support reading with endnotes.

In development of driver support system to reduce car accidents, it is necessary to increase effectiveness of the system by achieving an appropriate human-machine-interface through evaluation and improvement of the system. In this study, the effectiveness ofthe rear-end collision prevention support system was evaluated from analysis of driving behavior and driver acceptance, and the further interpretation by introducing driver's individual characteristic through the field operational test of Hiroshima DSSS. As a result, since desirable deceleration behavior was observed by presentation of the information of stopped car at the intersection ahead onthe poor visibility road, and since the drivers showed acceptance of the system at a moderate level, effectiveness of the system was verified. Moreover, the acceptance may be improved by design of the information presentation in consideration of the start of driver's deceleration behavior, and it was possible that subjective evaluation of the information presentation timing had relationship with driver's individual characteristic such as driving style.

Recently the concept of social interface has been widely investigated as part of human interface studies. Social interface is defined as the interface that allows the visualization of the potential social relationships formed between a human and an object, or a human and another human. In this study we focus on the use of smile in conversation, in two distinct situations: face-to-face conversation, and voice-only conversation, where a smile icon is used to express smiling. We analyze, by means of conversation experiments, whether these conversations are effective as social interface. For use in our experiments, we came up with a system, TalkWithSmile, which displays a smile icon on the table after the user smiles. The conversation experiments with TalkWithSmile revealed the tendency of participants to take part more actively in conversation when the smile icon is used.