Workshops

Workshops will be held on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 before the Eurohaptics 2018 conference.

List of accepted workshops/tutorials:

  • Contact Mechanics for Electrovibration
  • Wearable haptics: from perception to device development
  • From Fingertip Mechanics to Tactile Sensation
  • Haptic technologies for healthcare

Registration (full conference or workshop only) is required for participating at the workshops.

Morning 09:00-13:00

Contact Mechanics for Electrovibration (Room C)

  • Organizers: Cagatay Basdogan (Koc University, Turkey)
  • Abstract: While the technology for generating tactile feedback on a touch screen via lectrovibration (i.e. electroadhesion under an oscillating electric field) is already in place and straightforward to implement, our knowledge on contact mechanics for electrovibration is highly limited. In particular, we still do not know the exact mechanism leading to an increase in tangential frictional forces under electrovibration. Analytical models for estimating the electrostatic forces in normal direction and the friction forces acting on the finger in tangential direction are insufficient and the simulations produced by those models do not match well with the experimental data. This workshop aims to bring the experts working in the areas of contact mechanics, sliding friction, mechanical and electrical modeling of human finger, and electrovibration to discuss in depth the reasons behind this mismatch.
  • Link to the website

Wearable haptics: from perception to device development (Room D)

  • Organizers: Massimiliano Solazzi (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy)
  • Abstract: The workshop will present the latest findings on wearable haptics, ranging from neuroscience principles to innovative design of devices. The workshop will focus on fingertip haptics, investigating the encoding of tactile information and the development of devices for multimodal interaction.
  • Link to the website

Afternoon 14:30-18:00

From Fingertip Mechanics to Tactile Sensation (Room C)

  • Organizers: David Gueorguiev (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Germany), Jean-Louis Thonnard (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
  • Abstract: In the last few years, several studies have brought interesting new results on how the finger contact mechanics impact the tactile sense. It is well known that the dynamics of the interacting finger mediate the human tactile sensation of materials and textures but its contact dynamics also contribute to other aspects of human cognition such as proprioceptive perception and our capacity to dexterously manipulate objects. This broad range of perceptual phenomena that stem from the finger mechanics makes it essential to develop further our understanding of the finger behavior during interaction and its perceptual consequences.  These are topics who are essential for cognitive science but also for the emerging industry of force-based haptic feedback  with typical examples being the modulation of the finger-surface friction, the force-based wearable haptic devices and the mid-air ultrasonic stimulation of the finger. The main goal of this workshop is to gather a panel of researchers who have brought novel insights about the connection between finger mechanics and sensation. Bringing these researchers in one single panel is a unique occasion to discuss the role of contact mechanics within a general framework and from the specific  perspectives of several outstanding research labs. Moreover, it is far from trivial to simultaneously investigate contact mechanics and subjective sensation and an open discussion about the possible techniques and methods will be a valuable source of ideas for future experiments.
  • Link to the website

Full day 09:00 – 18:00

Haptic technologies for healthcare (Room E)

  • Organizers: Theodoros Georgiou, Simon Holland, Janet van der Linden (The Open University, UK)
  • Abstract: Recent technologies allow for novel classes of wearable and holdable devices that make use of emerging or complex forms of haptic communication and interaction. This can give rise to an expanded design space that raises many research issues, as this workshop will explore. Haptic technologies and the sense of touch, have the advantage of being more discreet and personal than other senses traditionally used for user interaction, and can enhance or substitute for other sensory channels. Therefore, the haptic sense can be used in situations of perceptual deficits (i.e. due to health-related conditions), or oversaturation due to environmental demands on other senses. Notifications and even complex messages can be mediated haptically to health professionals and patients, prompting them to perform an action, reminding them for a forgotten action or conveying instructions for a different path of action. The goal of this workshop is to spark interest in the topic of haptic technologies for healthcare, with a specific focus on using haptic technologies for assisting, enhancing and extending current practices, both in the hospital and home setting.
  • Link to the website