Flex-N-Feel (Singhal et al. 2017)

Flex-N-Feel is a couple of gloves. Each partner wears one. When one bends the fingers, it signals the remote glove to vibrate.

Reference: S. Singhal, C. Neustaedter, A.N. Antle, & B. Matkin. Flex-N-Feel: Emotive gloves for physical touch over distance. In CSCW '17 Companion Companion of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing
https://vimeo.com/168195362

Sensation (Canat et al 2016)

Sensation is a game device that can detect several different touch patterns between players. According to the game task, players have to complete collaborative physical tasks and experience physical closeness together with each other.

Reference: Mert Canat, Mustafa Ozan Tezcan, Eran Tiza, Bugra Can Sefercik, Idil Bostan, Oguz Turan Buruk, Tilbe Goksun, Oguzhan Ozcan. 2016. Sensation: Measuring the Effects of a Human-to-Human Social Touch Based Controller on the Player Experience. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'16) 3944-3955.

http://socialtouchingames.tumblr.com/

Feeling Distance (Pallarino et al. 2016)

Feeling Distance addresses a haptic-sensitive input device. A surface is created with an array of sensors (potentiometer) that detect different pressures on the surface. The result can then be presented on a display. The current version has 2x2 resolution.


Reference: T. Pallarino, A. Free, K. Mutuc, & S. Yarosh. 2016. Feeling Distance: An investigation of mediated social touch prototypes. In CSCW '16 Companion Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing Companion.

InTouch (Massung et al 2015)

InTouch system containing a handheld device, a peddle, and a docking station is a reading system designed for long-distance parent-children storytelling. In its current version of prototype, when the peddle is placed on the docking station, the docking station projects the story of the child's choice on to the wall and transmits the parent's (reader's) voice in real time. Users can also hold the peddle in hand. The peddle will transmit users' haptic clues to the remote device so that, for example, they share their emotional arousal by squeezing the peddle in a tense scene.




Reference: Elaine Massung, Sarah Dickins, James Torbett, James Holmes, Kirsten Cater, Victoria Bates. 2015. InTouch Tactile Tales: Haptic Feedback and Long-Distance Storytelling. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 1289-1294.

Remote Handshaking (Nakanishi et al 2014)

This Remote Handshaking project was to study telepresence in live video conversation. A robotic arm allows one to shake hand with the remote presenter. On the presenter's side, the handshaking motion is activated by a sensor attached on presenter's finger. To facilitate the illusion of holding a real person's hand, the remote user's arm is hidden from the camera.

Reference: Hideyuki Nakanishi, Kazuaki Tanaka, Yuya Wada. 2014. Remote Handshaking: Touch Enhances Video-Mediated Social Telepresence. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2143-2152 

Hugvie (by Minato et al, 2013)

 

Hugvie is a brightly-colored pillow in an extremely generic shape of a person. Within the large cushion, there is a pocket that’s designed to house a smartphone or regular cell phone during a call. According to Ishiguro, the Hugvie uses a micro-controller and two vibrating discs to “translate” the emotions of the caller’s voice into physical form. The two vibrators act in conjunction to replicate a human heartbeat. The speed as well as the intensity of the heartbeat is completely dependent on the volume and mood of the caller.

Source: Minato, T., Nishio, S., Ishiguro, H. 2013 Evoking an Affection for Communication Partner by a Robotic Communication Medium. In proceeding of: ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI2013).
http://www.geminoid.jp/projects/CREST/hugvie.html
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/smartphone-enabled-hugvie-adds-physical-sensation-to-phone-calls/

XOXO (by Samani et al, 2013)

XOXO is a platform to facilitate remote intimate interpersonal communication and strong affection through transmission of hugs and kisses using wearable and robotic interfaces. XOXO Intimate communication is a set of physical connections together with smooth affectionate tactile stimulations. XOXO is able to send kisses to the remote person through the robot lips and hugs through the haptic jacket and conveys the perception of intimate interaction.

Source: H. Samani, J. Teh, E. Saadatian, R. Nakatsu (2013). XOXO: Haptic interface for mediated intimacy. In 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Next-Generation Electronics (ISNE).
http://kissenger.lovotics.com/

POKE (by Park et al, 2013)

 

(poking in phone call)

(reciving message)

POKE is a device that enables callers to share touches during calls. POKE delivers these touches through an inflatable surface on the front of the device that receives index finger pressure inputs on the back of another device, while allowing the callers to maintain a conventional phone-calling posture.

Source: Park, Y., Baek, K., Nam, T. 2013. The Roles of Touch during Phone Conversations: Long-Distance Couples’ Use of POKE in Their Homes. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '13), 1679-1688.
https://vimeo.com/user3945292

TapTap (by Woodenshark et al., 2013)

 

TapTap is a design project created by Woodenshark et al. on KickStarter. TapTap has a form of wristband and transfer touch between two people. When touching its surface, the remote device vibrates synchronously. It can also be used as detector for hand's movement to create secret joint action for remote couples.

Source: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/woodenshark/taptap-wristband-a-new-way-to-say-i-love-you  (2013/10/25)
http://www.taptap.me/ (2014/05/05)

Bear-With-Me (by Fong et al 2013)

The bears will be able to send tweets when physically hugged.  Their hearts will glow when they receive the other bear's hug.  The bears can also send and receive physical touch (pat) signals.  The bears can also send and receive tweets when they are in motion.

Reference: Fong A., Ashktorab, Z., Froehlich J. 2013. Bear-With-Me: An Embodied Prototype to Explore Tangible Two-Way Exchanges of Emotional Language. In CHI 2013 Extended Abstracts
http://www.instructables.com/id/Bear-With-Me/

Kissenger (by Samani et al, 2012)

Kissnger is an application of Lovotics. Kissenger system consists of a pair of robots to transfer kiss over distance. Kissenger provides a novel way of transferring a kiss through interactive digital media. It provides a physical interface enabling kiss communication for several applications facilitating intimate human tele-presence with the real and virtual worlds. Kissing is a very important mode of human communication that involves joining lips in order to express many deep felt positive emotions such as affection, respect, greeting, farewell, good luck, romantic affection or sexual desire. Apart from the surface level enjoyment humans have by kissing, it also plays a crucial biologically motivated role in allowing prospective mates to smell and taste each other's pheromones for detecting compatibility.

Source: H.A. Samani, R. Parsani, L. T. Rodriguez et al. 2012, Kissenger: Design of a Kiss Transmission Device. In Designing Interactive Systems conference (DIS 2012)
http://kissenger.lovotics.com/

KUSUGURI (Furukawa et al 2012)

 

KUSUGURI is a mobile phone application designed for touching (tickling) over distance. The design addresses the issue of interpretating vibration as mediated touch experience. By adding the visual information on the screen to virbration of the mobile phone tactile information can be interpreted more personally and meaningful.

 

Reference:

Furukawa, M. Kajimoto, H., Tachi, S. 2012 KUSUGURI: A Shared Tactile Interface for Bidirectional Ticklung. In AH'12

https://sites.google.com/site/masahirofurukawa/home/home_e

Feelybean (by Kontaris et al 2012)

The feelybean is a haptic communication device designed to bridge this distance, bringing the sensation of touch, back into the relationship. The form of the device affords interaction by hand; yet avoids the “uncanny valley” by maintaining a subtle appearance.

Reference: Kontaris, D., Harrison, D., Patsoule, E., Zhuang, S., Slade, A. 2012. Feelybean: Communicationg Touch Over Distance. In CHI'12
http://www.feelybean.co.uk/projects/feelybean/feelybean/home.html

ForcePhone (by Hoggan et al & Nokia 2012)

ForcePhone functioning like ComTouch is the implementation of the concept. The mobilephone senses the pressing force and transfers this signal to another ForcePhone. The signal will then be translated to vibration output. Hoggan's study demonstrated the possibility of how to translate different pressure to different vibration pattern.

Reference: Hoggan, E., Stewart, C., Haverinen, L., Jacucci, G., Lantz, V. 2012. Pressages: Augmenting Phone Calls with Non-Verbal Messages. In UIST'12
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/429618/squeeze-your-phone-and-send-a-loved-one-a-hug/
http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/16/forcephone-from-nokia-hiit-sends-positive-vibes-with-a-squeeze/

Augmento (by Duarte et al 2012)

Augmento is a system which aims at reinforcing bonds between individuals in intimate relationships. Its workflow encompasses four steps: Couple first define a shared place. When one enters the vicinity of this shared place. The system identifies this activity automatically, captures the hearbeat rate of his person and share the heart beats with the remote partner.

Reference: Duarte, L., Antunes, T., Carrico, L. 2012. Can you feel it? Sharing heart beats with Augmento. In AH'12

YourGlove, HotMitts, HotHands (by Gooch 2012)

YourGlove

hotMitts

hotHands

YourGlove, hotMitts and hotHands use different physical channels to communicate intimate signals and thus present the same behavioural metaphor of hand-holding.

YourGlove uses robotic hand controlled by strings. HotMitts and hotHands uses heat rather than touch as the sensory medium and exchanges body heat.

Reference: Gooch, G., Watts, L. 2012 YourGloves, HotHands and HotMits: Devices to Hold Hands at a Distance. In UIST '12
http://danielgooch.synology.me/lddr.html

CoupleVIBE (Bales et al 2011)

 "In CoupleVIBE, when a user arrives at or departs from a frequented location, her partner automatically receives a vibrotactile message on his mobile phone [...] CoupleVIBE's visual interface is basic, consisting of just two screens, the status screen and the vibration assignment screen. A user tags a location [... and] is asked to give a name to the location [...] the user's partner selects a vibrotactile message to identify the location.

Reference: Bales, E. et al. 2011 CoupleVIBE: Mobile Implicit Communication to Improve Awareness for (Long-Distance) Couples. In CSCW 2011

CheekTouch (by Park et al, 2010)

CheekTouch combines tactile feedback delivered via the cheek and multi-finger input while speaking on the mobile phone. It is natural to use because it maintains the posture of speaking on the phone. Also, adding a tactile interface on the cheek can compensate for non-verbal cues on voice communi-cation. If another audio signal is added for non-verbal cue while speaking on the mobile phone, then it might disturb communication and overlap with verbal signals. Also, if video signals are added, users have to move their devices from their cheeks to see the visual messages which could lead to missing verbal signals. Therefore, tactile interfaces on the cheek can enrich communication while speaking on the mobile phone.

Source: CheekTouch: Park, Y., Lim, C., Nam, T. 2010, An Affective Interaction Technique while Speaking on the Mobile Phone. In Proceeding of Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '10 CHI '10 ) 3241-3246
http://cidr.kaist.ac.kr/mediawiki/index.php/CheekTouch

linked (by Laschke, 2010)

 

Linked. is a device for long distance communication for teenage boys. Its form of pillow is situated in each boy's room, especially on the bed. When one hugs or punches the device, the other pillow immediately represents the movement and power of the action. This creates a physical communication when the other one feels his friend's intention of "squabble" and puch back with his device.

Source: Laschke, M., Hassenzahl, M. Mehnert, K. 2010. linked. - a relatedness experience for boys. In Proceedings of the 6th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Extending Boundaries, 839-844
http://folkwangid.com/2011/11/01/linked-what-the-hell-are-these-boys-doing/

Haptic Device (Wang et al 2010)

This haptic device is prototyped by using Shape Memory Alloys and force sensor. "The device is composed of an armband [...] The input device triggers specific touch effects with patterns and the degree of user's squeezing force, and the armband generateds the concomitant touch and haptic effects."

Reference: Wang, R. et al. 2010 Touch & Talk: Contextualizing Remote Touch for Affective Interaction. In TEI 2010.