Designing haptic stimuli is one of challenges to enrich the virtual reality experience through a head mounted display which offer a photorealistic visual stimuli. Although exaggerated non-photorealistic haptic stimuli are widely used to represent events in virtual world due to limited capacity of haptic interface, the evaluation of its plausibility relies on human subjective assessment. The purpose of this research is to establish a method to objectively evaluate the plausibility of such visual-tactile experience. This study designs a stroop task in which participants are asked to tap an object with a stylus, receive visual stimuli (texture) and tactile stimuli (pulsive vibration) at a time, and respond to answer tactilely felt stiffness (soft or stiff). Our hypothesis is that response time to the stimuli consisting of incongruent visual and tactile combinations (soft-stiff or stiff-soft) becomes longer than those consisting of congruent combinations (soft-soft or stiff-stiff) if the tactile stimuli are felt so plausible as to interfere visual-tactile experience. The results of the experiment indicates the stroop effect, which supports the hypothesis.

Representing pseudo-haptics in AR or MR environments has remained challenging because it requires aligning the real and virtual environments. This paper presents an easy imageprocessing method for presenting Pseudo-Haptics by delaying the video while lifting objects in those environments. The presented method controls the degree of video delay based on the user’s electromyography (EMG) model for lifting objects. Our experiments showed that video delay controlled by the EMG model makes users perceive objects as heavier.

Skin-to-skin contacts (interpersonal touches), such as handshakes and highfives, can be used as indices displaying the soundness of children’s body and mind development. Thus far, we have been developing bracelet devices that measure interpersonal touches using an inter-body area network via electric current between rigid metal electrodes on wrists. This paper presents wristbands fabricated with soft conductive fabrics to improve wearability as well as the quality of the network. The conductive fabrics allow us to design more flexible layouts for electrodes than rigid metal. We design several layouts and conduct experiments to study the relations between the spatial layout and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. The results show that the S/N ratio is improved as the area of the electrodes and the distance between the electrodes increase. Besides, one of our designed electrodes shows greater performance than the existing metal electrodes at most by 4.0 dB.

To enhance social engagement among players, recent multiplayer video games employ social behaviors such as face-to-face behavior (like Nintendo’s 1-2-Switch) and gathering in a place (like Pokémon Go). As we have developed smart bracelets that measure interpersonal touch interactions, we are interested in using them for games as the social behavior with minimal social distance. This study demonstrates interpersonal vibrotactile phantom sensations between two parties holding hands via actuated bracelets. This would enable us to design localized vibrotactile sensations as haptic feedback of game events. We adopt hands as the medium for vibration propagation and the illusory tactile sensation (phantom sensation) to localize the sensation. In the experiment, the amplitude ratio, vibration frequency, and actuator position were employed as explanatory variables, whereas the perceived location was used as the response variable. The results reveal that the perceived locations varied linearly according to the amplitude ratio, which demonstrates the interpersonal vibrotactile phantom sensations. Furthermore, the frequency of the vibration affected the linearity, whereas the actuator position had no effect.

In this paper, we propose an 8DOF wire driven haptic device for syringe manipulation. The syringe manipulation has 2DOF plunger operation of translation and rotation. It is necessary to drive an end-effector with n+1 strings or more in order to realize a string based haptic device with n-DOF. By using a total of 12 wires considering spatial symmetry, we realized not only the 6DOF of translation and rotation of the endeffector but also the 2DOF of the syringe manipulation. In order to verify the proposed method, computer simulation was performed on the measurement of manipulability of the proposed design based on manipulability ellipsoid and displaying force range. The proposed haptic device was developed. As an evaluation experiment of the proposed system, rigid body operations with syringe manipulation were measured in VR world. As a result, it was confirmed that the device generates the plunger force of syringe and the manipulating force simultaneously. It is possible to display high tracking and force ability to the VR object.

A haptic device has been developed that enables individuals to feel heartbeat through the sense of touch by converting heartbeat sounds into vibrotactile feedback. We conducted two experiments with this device: the first focused on feeling one’s own heartbeat, and the second on feeling another person’s heartbeat. Our findings indicate that feeling one’s own heartbeat can reduce anxiety and make a person calm, while touching another person’s heartbeat can enhance interpersonal closeness.

Stamps are being used less and less in their original role as a tool due to telework and telecommuting. However, stamps have the potential to be used as a new interface because of their unique tactile sensation that makes people want to press them and the experience of having to press them precisely. In this study, we considered the application of stamps to AR contents as one of the new uses of stamps. First, we analyzed two characteristics of stamps, such as “pushing motion” and “accuracy,” and confirmed that “pushing motion” can be used as a task load and that the device can be used for accurate input. Based on these results, we confirmed the usefulness of the stamps by using them in AR contents such as “stamps,” “whack-a-mole,” and “chess.

Synesthesia Lab are developing a device to provide an experience that combines sound, whole-body haptic stimulation, and lighting. Many people have reported impressions such as “awe” and “sublimity”, which are related to the transcendent factor of wellbeing. Also, NTT created “Cards for Collective Wellbeing” to induce users to express and exchange the values of each in words. In this paper, we categorized types of the Synesthesia experiences using the cards, and performed a workshop that can exchange impressions and discuss the essence of the Synesthesia experience.

In the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Virtual Reality (VR), there is an increasing focus on well-being. While research has underscored the potential of multimodal technologies to foster mental tranquility, the integration of scene imagery linked to nostalgic emotions remains under-investigated. In our research, we developed an immersive whole-body haptic experience, guiding participants through scene imagery supplemented by Pseudo-action stimuli, including actions like walking and opening a door, as well as Ambient stimuli, such as wind and everyday sounds. The results confirmed that participants effectively reminisced about serene and comforting places. Pseudo-action stimuli bolstered sensory ownership sensations, whereas Ambient stimuli provided a platform for open interpretation. In conclusion, our study suggests that whole-body haptic technologies in Virtual Reality can offer a nuanced approach to creating scene representations, potentially enhancing user immersion.

Storytelling in libraries is an opportunity to share experiences with parents and children. However, it is challenging in group storytelling to draw children’s attention to a picture book, because children’s sustained attention to picture books is affected by their age, situation, and individual language ability. Therefore, we have developed a cushion that provides haptic feedback during storytelling so that children can feel the picture book world through their bodies. We then investigated the effects of storytelling using haptic feedback compared to normal storytelling. The results suggest the possibility of maintaining children’s sustained attention to picture books by the provided haptic feedback.

This study proposes a new haptic transducer capable of producing strong vibrations and constant skin stretch using repulsive permanent magnets and a small coil. The repulsive magnet configuration generates a concentrating leakage magnetic flux on the side surface of the magnets directing perpendicular to the surface. Both the magnets and the coils are attached to the skin to generate constant force as well as vibration. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we fabricated and evaluated a prototype. As a result, it was found that the proposed method is able to present vibrations with larger amplitudes than existing methods. It was also suggested that the proposed method is superior to the existing method in representing the shape and texture of virtual objects.

Various sensory stimuli, including tactile stimuli, have been shown to direct the attention of observers. Wind, which is also a tactile stimulus caused by air flow, is expected to play a role in guiding attention and suggesting the presence of an object or person. We conducted an experiment using the Posner task to investigate the characteristics of attentional guidance by wind and found that wind stimuli with an intensity sufficiently above detection threshold as a cue stimulus facilitated the detection of visual target stimuli. This result suggests that wind can be used to guide user behavior in immersive content.