<div>Learning practices in education are constantly evolving to provide high-quality education. One of the trends used to provide high-quality education is incorporating technological tools to teach and learn STEM concepts. Implementing physical manipulative tools and virtual manipulative tools in STEM classrooms positively influenced conceptual learning. Furthermore, visuohaptic simulations are learning tools that combine physical and virtual manipulative affordances in a single learning experience. For investigating the value of visual and haptic feedback in virtual environments, we designed an embodied learning experience where learners used a hands-on tool for learning friction concepts. The theoretical framework of embodied learning guided the design of the learning tools and the research design. The learning tools were visuohaptic simulations and physical manipulative tool. Results suggested no influence in conceptual knowledge of the physical manipulative tool. On the opposite, results suggested a positive influence of the visuohaptic simulation on conceptual knowledge. Moreover, our studies suggested that learners exposed to enhanced visual feedback and haptic feedback used two different mechanisms for improving friction conceptual knowledge. When enhanced visual feedback was activated, learners read the cubes' forces from the computer screen for correcting their answer or reinforce their correct knowledge. When haptic feedback was activated, learners inferred about the cubes' forces from the haptic feedback for correcting their answer or reinforce their correct knowledge. In a sequenced approach of feedback of haptic to haptic + enhanced visual, learners obtained the benefits of the haptic and visual feedback for learning friction. </div><div> </div>

Physical interaction with textiles is generally found through the purpose of the textiles; for clothing, or interior use. We engage not just for the textiles, but primarily for it’s function. Within Dynamic Folding Knits, the purpose of the material is purely interaction focused. To encourage and to entice the visitor to play, and thus creating a new focus to the material. One that focuses on the materiality before the function. Described through practical based research, knitted materials have been explored to investigate and encourage the physical interaction between the viewer and textiles. Folding methods have been developed that increase the tactility of the material, and integrate intricate form. Both these qualities have been shown to increase curiosity to interact and explore the textiles due to the materials tactility. Working within three main categories of folding methods; The Strict Fold, The Soft Fold and An Amalgamation of Folds, the results provide a vast range of folding textiles, through strict geometry set into the structure of the material, to the softer accumulation of fabric that builds and forms. All of these are then offered to visitors to interact with through touch and play, to experience the movement, the textures the folds and the forms.

This work discusses the creation of an interface between theX-Plane flight simulator and the TactSuit X40 haptic vest,the class architecture and design choices, as well asmeasuring the real-time operation of the program. Theefficiency of the program was measured by logging theexecution times of certain parts of the code. We found thatthe program can operate within defined parameters of whatconstitutes real-time but has an upper limit on how well itcan perform. The upper limit is dependent on the number ofpotential events provided by the user. We also discoveredthat the most time-consuming part of the code is the part thatis responsible for reading the user input into Python. Wesuggest that future work may want to examine and improvethis aspect.

This study describes the development and testing of a virtual reality locomotion system that uses the user’s arm swings as input. This system has also been integrated with audio and haptic feedback that reacts to the user’s velocity and the surface they’re currently walking on, in an attempt to provide an intuitive and immersive VR locomotion experience. To achieve this, an open source ArmSwinger implementation has been adapted, and custom haptic belts were crafted to display haptic feedback around the user’s feet. Tests with three participants have shown that the system is able to be operated even by users unfamiliar with VR, and the addition of locomotion feedback mostly succeeds in improving the user experience, albeit some issues with synchronization were brought up. / Denna studie beskriver utvecklingen och testningen av ett virtuell verklighet lokomotivsystem som använder användarens armsvängningar som ingång. Detta system har också integrerats med ljud och haptisk feedback som reagerar på användarens hastighet och ytan de för närvarande går på, i ett försök att ge en intuitiv och uppslukande VV rörelseupplevelse. För att uppnå detta har en öppen källkod ArmSwinger implementering anpassats och anpassade haptiska bälten har utformats för att visa haptisk feedback runt användarens fötter. Test med tre deltagare har visat att systemet kan drivas även av användare som inte känner till VV, och tillägget av rörelseåterkoppling lyckas främst förbättra användarupplevelsen, även om vissa problem med synkronisering togs upp.

Physical properties of objects are some of the features that are lost when users are immersed in today's virtual environments that usually only provide visual and auditory stimuli. In a quest to recover the physical perception of touch, in this work, we present two different studies to assess how force feedback applied solely on the wrist can convey weight. This localized approach is implemented with a wearable device, which is an advantage regarding mobility. Part of our motivation comes from balance tasks that involve interaction with objects, where there is a need to perceive their weight.We first propose an experiment to assess how we can use the force feedback on the wrist to alter the weight perception when manipulating physical props in VR.Then, we implement and evaluate two experiments in several days setting with a single participant, using only virtual representations of the objects. In the first experiment, we propose a task involving ordering objects, from the lightest to the heaviest. The second experiment also assesses weight perception, but at this time, asking the participants to compare only two objects grabbed at distinct points. In both procedures, the tasks are repeated hundreds of times to remove any bias that can come from memorizing the orders and combinations presented. From these studies, we found that the force stimuli localized on the wrist are sufficient to convey weight information. We also found that grabbing the objects at different points affects the perceived weight to a certain extent due to how the two motion axes of the wrist are placed. The behavior we observed in weight discrimination, and its limitations are equivalent to the ones found in previous studies performed using real weights.Besides these studies, an additional contribution of this work is an effective experimental design relying on a single participant in a long term setting.

Nowadays surgery simulations are aiming to apply not just visual effects but forcefeedback as well. To carry out force feedback, haptic devices are utilized that are mostlycommercial products for general purposes. Some of the haptic device features are moreimportant than others in case of surgery simulator use. The precision of the output forcemagnitude is one such property. The specifications provided by haptic devicemanufacturers are lacking details on device characteristics, known to cause difficulties inplanning of accurate surgery simulations.This project shows the design of a testbed that is capable of measuring the precision ofoutput forces within the haptic devices’ workspace. With the testbed, a set ofmeasurements can be run on different haptic devices, giving as a result a betterknowledge of the utilized device. This knowledge aids the design of more precise andrealistic surgery simulations.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第24608号 / 工博第5114号 / 新制||工||1978(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科機械理工学専攻 / (主査)教授 松野 文俊, 教授 小森 雅晴, 教授 森本 淳 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

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Haptic interfaces are robotic force-feedback devices that give the user a sense of touch as they interact with virtual or remote environments. These interfaces act as input devices, mapping the 3-dimensional (3D) motions of the user's hand into 3D motions in a slave system or simulated virtual world. A major challenge in haptic interfaces is ensuring that the user's experience is a realistic depiction of the simulated environment. This requires the interface's design to be such that it does not hinder the user's ability to feel the forces present in the environment. This "transparency" is achieved by minimizing the device's physical properties (e.g., weight, inertia, friction). The primary objective of the work is to utilize compliant mechanisms as a means to improve transparency of a haptic interface. This thesis presents work toward the design of a fully compliant mechanism that can be utilized in haptic interfaces as a means to reduce parasitic forces. The approach taken in this work is to design a series of mechanisms that when combined act as a statically balanced compliant joint (SBCJ). Simulated and experimental results show that the methods presented here result in a joint that displays a significant decrease in return-to-home behavior typically observed in compliant mechanisms. This reduction in the torque needed to displace the joint and the absence of friction suggest that the joint design is conducive to the methods previously proposed for increasing transparency in haptic interfaces.

Indoor flight of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has many applications in environments in which it is undesirable or dangerous for humans to be, such as military reconnaissance or searching for trapped victims in a collapsed building. However, limited visual feedback makes it difficult to pilot UAVs in cluttered and enclosed spaces. Haptic feedback combined with visual feedback has shown to reduce the number of collisions of UAVs in indoor environments; however, it has increased the mental workload of the operator. This thesis investigates the potential of combining novel haptic and 3D audio feedback to provide additional information to operators of UAVs in order to improve performance and reduce workload. Many haptic feedback algorithms, such as Time to Impact (TTI)~cite{Brandt2009}, have been developed to help pilot UAVs. This thesis compares TTI with two new haptic feedback algorithms: Omni-Directional Dynamics Springs (ODDS) and Velocity Scaled Omni-Directional Dynamic Springs (VSODDS). These novel algorithms are based on the idea that dynamic springs are attached to the haptic controller in all directions. This thesis is unique by augmenting visual and haptic feedback with real-time 3D audio feedback. Continuous Directional Graded Threshold (CDGT) and Discrete Directional Graded Threshold (DDGT) are two novel algorithms that were developed to provide 3D audio warning cues to operators. To reduce sensory overload, these algorithms play a graded audio alert cue in the direction of velocity and when within a threshold distance of an obstacle. In order to measure operator workload, many researchers have used subjective measures, which suffer from subject bias, preconceptions, and ordering. Instead of using a subjective measure, experimental data is used to objectively measure operator workload using behavioral entropy, which works on the idea that humans work to reduce entropy by skilled behavior. QuadSim, a robust and versatile indoor quadrotor simulator, was developed as a test bed for visual, haptic, and 3D audio feedback. Using QuadSim, a human subject experiment was performed to determine the effectiveness of haptic and 3D audio feedback on operator performance and workload. The results of the study indicate that haptic feedback significantly reduced the number of collisions and collision length. Operator workload was decreased in the side-to-side direction by VSODDS but was adversely increased by TTI. Overall, VSODDS outperformed the other haptic algorithms. Unlike haptic feedback, audio feedback proved to be neither helpful nor harmful in improving performance or reducing workload.