TECHTILE toolkit

A prototyping tool for design and education of haptic media
Kouta Minamizawa

KMD, Keio University
4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama,223-8526, Japan+81-45-564-2499
kouta@tachilab.org

Yasuaki Kakehi

SFC, Keio University
5322 Endo, Fujisawa, Kanagawa,
252-0882, Japan+81-466-49-3638
ykakehi@sfc.keio.ac.jp

Soichiro Mihara

YCAM InterLab
7-7 Nakazono-cho, Yamaguchi,
753-0075 Japan+81-83-901-2222
mhrs@ycam.jp

Masashi Nakatani

KMD, Keio University
4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama,223-8526, Japan+81-45-564-2499
nakatani@tachilab.org

Susumu Tachi

KMD, Keio University
4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama,223-8526, Japan+81-45-564-2499
tachi@tachilab.org

ABSTRACT

There has been many haptic devices proposed so far, but most ofthem are still in emerging stage. To attract the interest of
potential users of haptics such as designers, educators, andstudents, it is necessary to provide easy-to-make and easy-to-use
haptic device. We then developed an introductory haptic device
named "TECHTILE toolkit". Current prototype is composed of
haptic recorder, haptic reactor, and signal amplifier that is
optimized to present not only zone of audibility but also low
frequency vibrotactile sensation. This toolkit is intuitive to use
and can be developed with low cost. We are currently holding a
number of workshops to confirm that this device is suitable as
an educational tool for learning possible applications of haptics
design.

Figure 1: TECHTILE toolkit

Categories and Subject Descriptors

H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: Haptic I/O, Prototyping

General Terms

Design, Human Factors

Keywords

Tactile display, Tactile sensor, Vibrotactile sensation, Multisensory communication, Haptic media
Project website: http://techtile.org/
Contact: info@techtile.org

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Laval Virtual VRIC ’12, March 28-April 1, 2012, Laval, France.
Copyright 2012 ACM 978-1-4503-1243-1 ...$10.00

Figure 2: Real-time haptic transmission of “balls in a cup”

1. INTRODUCTION“TECHTILE” is a fundamental concept by combining“TECHnology” with “tacTILE” perception/expression. TheTECHTILE project was launched in 2007, and we have been
hosted public exhibitions on latest haptic technology in Japan.
Our aim is to disseminate the haptic technologies as the thirdmedia in the field of art, design, and education and extends theconventional “multi-media” which consists of visual information
and auditory information. There has been various haptic devices
proposed so far, but most of them are still in emerging stage. In
the field of electronics, Arduino [1] has succeeded to provide an
introductory platform to make the entry level lower. There aresome trials to construct educational platform on haptics [2][3],however, they are designed for university students so that still
too difficult for children or designers/artists without

engineering-backgrounds. To attract the interest of “nonprofessional” potential users of haptics such as designers,educators, and students, it is necessary to provide easy-to-makeand easy-to-use prototyping device of haptics. We thendeveloped an introductory haptic device named "TECHTILEtoolkit".

sandals and so on. Figure 5 shows various haptic contents
created in the workshops.

2. SYSTEM DESIGNIn designing the toolkit, the most important point is that thetoolkit can be used in favorite method for non-professional users.
We then focused on the conventional method on auditory media.
The sources of auditory sensation and tactile sensation are thesame; vibration of an object generates a sequence of vibration of
the air and perceived as sound, on the other hand, if the object
were touched directly, it would be perceived as tactile sensation.
When we create audio contents, we use microphone andspeakers. The auditory sensation is recorded as a sequence ofsound wave and we can easily edit using sound editors. If wewant to share the audio contents on Internet, we can upload
audio files (mp3, wmv, wav etc.) on YouTube or other contentsharing websites.
We then designed the toolkit with the same setup as sound tools.
Current version of the toolkit (Figure 1) composed of a haptic
recorder (microphone), haptic reactors (small voice-coilvibrators), and a signal amplifier that is optimized to present not
only the zone of audibility (20-20000Hz) but also low frequency(1-20Hz) vibrotactile sensation. Although this toolkit is intuitive
to use and can be developed with low cost, it can deliver evenhigher-realistic haptic sensation than many other conventional
haptic devices.
For example, if the user want to deliver the haptic sensation of“small balls in a paper-cup”, they just need to attach the haptic
recorder on the bottom of a paper-cup, and the haptic reactor on
the bottom of another cup using scotch tape as shown in Figure
2. Then when they drop balls in the cup with haptic recorder, thehaptic sense of collision and rotation of balls would be copied toanother cup in real-time. It is also possible to record the haptic
signal as an audio track of movie file through the USB port of
the toolkit, and playback with video and sound as shown inFigure 3. It means that you can upload your original haptic
contents on YouTube or Ustream to share the haptic content allover the world.

Figure 4: TECHTILE workshops

Figure 5: Original haptic contents created by students/children

4. CONCLUSIONS

We have developed a prototyping tool for design and educationof haptic media, named TECHTILE toolkit. Through a series ofworkshops using the toolkit, we are trying to present thepossibility and fun of designing haptic contents. In the next step
we will construct a platform to share the various kinds of usergenerated haptic contents created by students and children.
In Laval Virtual ReVolution 2012, we would like to demonstratesome examples of real-time haptic transmission, recorded haptic
videos, and also we will hold rapid hands-on-workshops in ourbooth to show the essence of TECHTILE toolkit.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Figure 3: Share the recorded haptic video

3. USER EXPERIENCES

We are currently holding a series of workshops mainly forelementary school children and university students as shown infigure 4, so that we have confirmed that this device is suitable as
an educational tool for learning possible applications of haptic
design. The attendees, aged from 6 to 30’s, could easilyunderstand how-to-use the toolkit in just 10 minutes. After that,they can create their original haptic artworks using theirpersonal belongings such as papers, crayons, scissors, umbrellas,

This project is supported by YCAM InterLab and JST-CREST
Haptic Media project.

REFERENCES[1] Arduino, http://www.arduino.cc/[2] Vincent Lévesque and Karon Maclean. 2011. Do-ItYourself Haptics: A Practical Introduction to Haptics forConsumer Electronics, IEEE ICCE 2011, Las Vegas, US.
[3] Allison M. Okamura, Sonny Chan, Blake Hannaford,
Karon MacLean, and William Provancher. 2012. Best
Practices for Teaching Haptics. IEEE Haptics Symposium
2012, Tutorials, Vancouver, Canada.