Grasping is one of the most important factors of human evolution and even young children start to explore the world by dominantly using touch. However, current interaction technologies suffer from an imbalance between visual and haptic stimulation. Shape-changing interfaces are one line of research addressing this issue. Unfortunately, these systems are often very complex and difficult to replicate. This is not the case for Elastic Displays that have low mechanical complexity and utilize consumer hardware. Albeit their simple setup, neither off-the-shelf hardware for research purposes or instructions on how to assemble such systems are available. This hampers open science and the replication of research results. In this paper, we describe our experiences on constructing an Elastic Display. We present lessons learned from several field tests and the final requirements of the setup. Moreover, we introduce an open source documentation of the hardware assembly instructions, which integrates with a previously published open source software framework. With both hardware and software now being readily available, novel application concepts for Elastic Displays can be explored by a broad community.

Creating innovative applications for novel interface technologies poses several challenges for both designers and developers. Rapid prototyping helps to examine concepts, check hypotheses, and acquire early user feedback. In this paper, we present ReFlex, a framework that provides rapid prototyping and development tools for Elastic Displays, and its application in the context of a student project developing a spatial controller for remote 3D navigation.

Elastic displays afford a natural stacking of information layers in their haptic interaction space. So far, research has focused on technical issues and interaction concepts by pushing and pulling the surface of such displays. We report a study with 24 participants that investigates the feasibility and limitations of interaction with 6 to 21 layers. We measured completion times and error rates for reaching and holding specific target layers and observed performed gestures. Our findings show that solution time increases with more layers while precision is maintained with a mean success rate of holding a layer of 70 %, even when using up to 21 layers. User experience measurements show that hedonic qualities of the interaction were rated higher than pragmatic qualities. Our investigation proves the general feasibility of using layer-based interaction with an elastic display and provides guidelines on the limitations.

At exhibitions, visitors are usually in a completely unknown environment. Although visitors generally are informed about the topic before a visit, interests are still difficult to extract from the mass of exhibition stands and offers. In this paper we describe a concept using head-coupled AR together with recommender mechanisms for exhibitions. We present a conceptual development for a first prototype with focus on navigational aspects as well as explicit and implicit recommendations to generate input data for visually displayed recommendations.

Nowadays there is a wide variety of Virtual Reality (VR) applications for users of all age groups. An essential part of most VR systems is stereoscopy. From perceptual research, it is known that stereoscopic perception deteriorates with age [Garnham and Sloper 2006]. As indicator for stereoscopic perception, the authors of this and further studies used stereo acuity, i.e. the smallest disparity difference detected by the visual system. Norman et al. [2000] showed that the declined stereo acuity in older humans can cause these users to perceive less depth in random-dot stereograms. Since VR applications for rehabilitation are advancing, one can expect increasing numbers of elderly users. However, up to now it is unclear whether the age-specific changes in stereoscopic perception might impair the use of VR applications for older people. In our study, we presented stereoscopically rendered virtual objects. The primary aim of this study was to examine possible age differences in fusion range, relative and absolute distance perception, and visual fatigue. Here, we present results of the two tasks concerning distance perception.

Reaching movements towards stereoscopically presented virtual objects have been reported to be imprecise. This might be a problem for touch interaction with virtual environments. Estimating the distance to an object in personal space relies on binocular disparity and other depth cues but previous work on the influence of familiar size for reaching and grasping has produced conflicting results. We presented a virtual tennis ball and manipulated binocular disparity as well as the size of the tennis ball. The results suggest that depth information from binocular disparity and from familiar size is combined for reaching movements towards virtual objects. However, subjects differed in the weight they assigned to each depth cue.

In virtual environments, perceived distances are frequently reported to be shorter than intended. One important parameter for spatial perception in a stereoscopic virtual environment is the stereo base—that is, the distance between the two viewing cameras. We systematically varied the stereo base relative to the interpupillary distance (IPD) and examined influences on distance and size perception. Furthermore, we tested whether an individual adjustment of the stereo base through an alignment task would reduce the errors in distance estimation. Participants performed reaching movements toward a virtual tennis ball either with closed eyes (blind reaches) or open eyes (sighted reaches). Using the participants' individual IPD, the stereo base was set to (a) the IPD, (b) proportionally smaller, (c) proportionally larger, or (d) adjusted according to the individual performance in an alignment task that was conducted beforehand. Overall, consistent with previous research, distances were underestimated. As expected, with a smaller stereo base, the virtual object was perceived as being farther away and bigger, in contrast to a larger stereo base, where the virtual object was perceived to be nearer and smaller. However, the manipulation of the stereo base influenced blind reaching estimates to a smaller extent than expected, which might be due to a combination of binocular disparity and pictorial depth cues. In sighted reaching, when visual feedback was available, presumably the use of disparity matching led to a larger effect of the stereo base. The use of an individually adjusted stereo base diminished the average underestimation but did not reduce interindividual variance. Interindividual differences were task specific and could not be explained through differences in stereo acuity or fixation disparity.

Finding new and compelling approaches to interaction design for natural user interfaces, is challenging. The Natural Interface Exploration studio will offer participants the opportunity to explore interaction design for natural user interfaces based on physical substances that are used in everyday life. Studio organizers will present an overview of their methodology, providing examples of their experience [1, 2] and comparing it to other approaches. They will demonstrate how they analyze natural substances regarding the aspects of visualization and interaction and what kind of interfaces resulted [3, 4, 5] from these findings in initial workshops (see Figure 3 and 4).