Enabling Haptic Experiences Anywhere, Anytime

Abstract

My research is driven by the question: Why are technologies for generating the sense of haptics (e.g., vibration), so much behind those for vision (e.g., 3D headsets) and audio (e.g., high-fidelity headphones), on our personal computing devices? While haptic devices that provide more expressive and realistic sensations, including the sense of touch and forces, have been around mainly built for teleoperation and specific use in Virtual Reality, I argue that it is not trivial to bring these haptic devices directly to mobile and wearable interactions—the interactive paradigm that has prevailed in recent decades. In this dissertation, I examine the fundamental challenges behind this transition of haptic devices from stationary use to mobile use, and propose novel systems including software and hardware, to solve these challenges in different approaches. Accompanying technical & user-study validations and new interactive applications, I demonstrate a roadmap toward a new generation of haptic devices that will enable haptic experiences anywhere and anytime.