Abstract
In the real world, touch based interaction relies on haptic
feedback (e.g., grasping objects, feeling textures). Unfortunately,
such feedback is absent in current tabletop systems.
The previously developed Haptic Tabletop Puck (HTP)
aims at supporting experimentation with and development
of inexpensive tabletop haptic interfaces. The problem is
that programming the HTP is difficult due to interactions
when coding its multiple hardware components. To address
this problem, we contribute the HAPTICTOUCH toolkit,
which allows developers to rapidly prototype haptic tabletop
applications. Our toolkit is structured in three layers
that enable programmers to: (1) directly control the device,
(2) create customized combinable haptic behaviors (e.g.
softness, oscillation), and (3) use visuals (e.g., shapes, images,
buttons) to quickly make use of the aforementioned
behaviors. Our preliminary study found that programmers
could use the HAPTICTOUCH toolkit to create haptic tabletop
applications in a short amount of time.
Refereed
No
