Aarnio: Passive Kinesthetic Force Output for Foreground Interactions on an Interactive Chair

Abstract

We propose a new type of haptic output for foreground interactions on an interactive chair, where input is carried out explicitly in the foreground of the user's consciousness. This type of force output restricts a user's motion by modulating the resistive force when rotating a seat, tilting the backrest, or rolling the chair. These interactions are useful for many applications in a ubiquitous computing environment, ranging from immersive VR games to rapid and private query of information for people who are occupied with other tasks (e.g. in a meeting). We carefully designed and implemented our proposed haptic force output on a standard office chair and determined the recognizability of five force profiles for rotating, tilting, and rolling the chair. We present the result of our studies, as well as a set of novel interaction techniques enabled by this new force output for chairs.