As touchscreen interfaces replace many physical controls in vehicles, safe and intuitive interaction becomes increasingly important. This study evaluated piezo-actuated haptic feedback versus conventional audio-only feedback across 11 use cases in parking and driving contexts. In a within-subject experiment with 23 participants in a fixed-based driving simulator, haptic feedback was rated as more satisfying, helpful, and supportive, particularly for scrolling or confirming actions while driving, despite showing no significant differences in objective performance measures. Participants described haptics as more engaging, though some noted habituation effects and inconsistencies. Audio-only feedback was seen as more stimulating but less consistently preferred. Findings suggest that contextual haptics improves perceived usability. Additionally, the study highlights the potential of semantic haptics—enabled by piezo technology—to convey meaning through expressive tactile patterns. Future research could explore adaptive multimodal systems and assess long-term effects under real-world conditions.

Virtual co-embodiment enables two users to share a single avatar in Virtual Reality (VR). During such experiences, the illusion of shared motion control can break during joint-action activities, highlighting the need for position-aware feedback mechanisms. Drawing on the perceptual crossing paradigm, we explore how haptics can enable non-verbal coordination between co-embodied participants. In a within-subjects study (20 participant pairs), we examined the effects of vibrotactile haptic feedback (None, Present) and avatar control distribution (25-75%, 50-50%, 75-25%) across two VR reaching tasks (Targeted, Free-choice) on participants’ Sense of Agency (SoA), co-presence, body ownership, and motion synchrony. We found (a) lower SoA in the free-choice with haptics than without, (b) higher SoA during the shared targeted task, (c) co-presence and body ownership were significantly higher in the free-choice task, (d) players’ hand motions synchronized more in the targeted task. We provide cautionary considerations when including haptic feedback mechanisms for avatar co-embodiment experiences.

This paper introduces Shape2Vibe, a co-design tool for collaboratively designing vibrotactile feedback with people with deafblindness. We outline how a first version of Shape2Vibe was developed and tested. We explain to what extent the tool supports communication during the design process and how it can be used to design meaningful vibrotactile feedback for any given situation. The results from a co-design evaluation study indicate that Shape2Vibe sufficiently supports communication in a co-design session to enable co-design between a designer and people with deafblindness.

Mind-wandering (MW) and fidgeting are both present as pervasive phenomena in everyday life and can positively impact ideation. Importantly, within the MW experience, MW can manifest in bodily behaviors such as physical fidgeting. Here, we use an extended mind framework to consider fidgeting as a case of extended MW, where (part of) a MW episode is mediated by a fidget object. We position extended MW, fidgeting, and cognition as interrelated processes. We present the design of an interactive haptic fidget object that aims to support introspective self-awareness in MW and aid in idea synthesis. We discuss the results of an exploratory user evaluation in which the fidget object was used by designers during a personally relevant work session combining research, synthesis, and creativity. We close this paper by discussing the initial findings of our research, the implications for extended MW, and additional propositions for future research directions.

With one-person households being increasingly common and Covid-19 lockdown policies forcing people to stay home, remote dining has become common practice for many, who take it as an opportunity to connect with others in times of loneliness. Sharing meals online, also known as digital commensality, is a rich form of interaction, where people leverage technology to achieve a sense of connectedness and belonging while eating. In this paper, we look at digital commensality and we explore its inherent playful potential with the aim to inspire the design of engaging technologies that can support, enhance and augment this form of interaction. For this, we used a situated play design approach to document and analyze the behavior of 36 people (including pairs of friends and strangers) sharing meals online. Our analysis surfaced a set of play potentials of remote dining -- i.e., playful things people already do and enjoy spontaneously while sharing meals online. We present those play potentials as inspirational material: they can motivate and enrich the design of future digital commensality technologies by responding to people's desire for playful and social interaction with, through, and around food.

We present a vision for conversational user interfaces (CUIs) as probes for speculating with, rather than as objects to speculate about. Popular CUIs, e.g., Alexa, are changing the way we converse, narrate, and imagine the world(s) to come. Yet, current conversational interactions normatively may promote non-desirable ends, delivering a restricted range of request-response interactions with sexist and digital colonialist tendencies. Our critical design approach envisions alternatives by considering how future voices can reside in CUIs as enabling probes. We present novel explorations that illustrate the potential of CUIs as critical design material, by critiquing present norms and conversing with imaginary species. As micro-level interventions, we show that conversations with diverse futures through CUIs can persuade us to critically shape our discourse on macro-scale concerns of the present, e.g., sustainability. We reflect on how conversational interactions with pluralistic, imagined futures can contribute to how being human stands to change.

The term commensality refers to "sharing food and eating together in a social group. In this paper, we hypothesize that it would be possible to have the same kind of experience in a HCI setting, thanks to a new type of interface that we call Artificial Commensal Companion (ACC), that would be beneficial, for example, to people who voluntarily choose or are constrained to eat alone. To this aim, we introduce an interactive system implementing an ACC in the form of a robot with non-verbal socio-affective capabilities. Future tests are already planned to evaluate its influence on the eating experience of human participants.

Here, we present the outcome of the 4th workshop on Multisensory Approaches to Human-Food Interaction (MHFI), developed in collaboration with ICMI 2020 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Capitalizing on the increasing interest on multisensory aspects of human-food interaction and the unique contribution that our community offers, we developed a space to discuss ideas ranging from mechanisms of multisensory food perception, through multisensory technologies, to new applications of systems in the context of MHFI. All in all, the workshop involved 11 contributions, which will hopefully further help shape the basis of a field of inquiry that grows as we see progress in our understanding of the senses and the development of new technologies in the context of food.

Research into multimodal flavor perceptions has demonstrated associations between basic tastes and visual cues. Moreover, such associations have been found to influence taste perception. Here we are interested in how mixed reality technology in the form of projection mapping can be used to introduce such visual cues during consumption. First, associations between basic tastes and visualizations that differed in color, shape and animation speed were investigated in a crowdsourcing study. The study demonstrated associations between sweetness and red rounded shapes, and sourness and green angular shapes with a fast animation speed. A subsequent lab study where the visualizations were projected around a cup of yogurt that participants tasted confirmed these associations. Finally, specific combinations of visualizations and animation types were found to influence taste perceptions of the yogurt. The implications of these findings are discussed.

This is an introductory paper for the workshop entitled ‘Multi-Sensorial Approaches to Human-Food Interaction’ held at ICMI 2016, which took place the 16th of November, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. Here we discuss our objectives and the relevance of the workshop, and summarize the key contributions of the position papers. We were able to gather a group of researchers from different countries in Europe and Asia who presented their research and discussed the current developments, trends, limitations, and future applications of the field. Whilst this is the first workshop of its kind, we anticipate that the field of multisensory Human-Food Interaction (HFI) will grow in the upcoming years in terms of research and development, and its products will impact our everyday eating experiences.

The main aim of this first workshop on Mediated Touch and Affect (MeTA) is to bring together researchers from diverse communities, such as affective computing, hap tics, augmented reality, communication, design, psychology, human-robot interaction, and telepresence. The goal is to discuss the current state of research on mediated touch and affect and to formulate a research agenda for future directions in research on aspects of the touch-technology-affect triangle.

Touch is an important modality for affective communication between individuals. Here we present a system, named the TaSST (Tactile Sleeve for Social Touch), that allows two people to communicate different types of touch at a distance by touching their own forearm. In this paper we will introduce the TaSST and present a demo setup using two TaSST sleeves.

In this study we investigate the role of remote touch as an additional communication channel in the context of storytelling. We focus on studying the effect of remote touch and the timing of touch on perceived social presence and story recall. In our experiment people listened to an emotional story. Listeners were either remotely touched by the storyteller at emotional story moments, remotely touched at random moments during the story, or not touched at all. Our results indicate that remote touch does not enhance the perceived social presence of the storyteller. However, even when the link between remote touch and the story is not explicitly clear, touch at emotional story moments can contribute to the perception of the story. Furthermore, while touches at emotional story moments can distract from the story content, touch in general can implicitly enhance the attention paid to the story content.

In this paper the development process and validation of the LEMtool (Layered Emotion Measurement tool) are described. The LEMtool consists of eight images that display a cartoon figure expressing four positive and four negative emotions using facial expressions and body postures. The instrument can be used during interaction with a visual interface, such as a website, and allows participants to select elements of the interface that elicit a certain emotion. The images of the cartoon figure were submitted to a validation study, in which participants rated the recognizability of the images as specific emotions. All images were found to be recognizable above chance level. In another study, the LEMtool was used to assess visual appeal judgements of a number of web pages. The LEMtool ratings were supported by visual appeal ratings of web pages both for very brief (50 milliseconds) and for long (free-viewing) stimulus exposures. Furthermore, the instrument provided insight into the elements of the web pages that elicited the emotional responses.

In this paper we outline the design process of the TaSST (Tactile Sleeve for Social Touch), a touch-sensitive vibrotactile arm sleeve. The TaSST was designed to enable two people to communicate different types of touch over a distance. The touch-sensitive surface of the sleeve consists of a grid of 4×3 sensor compartments filled with conductive wool. Each compartment controls the vibration intensity of a vibration motor, located in a grid of 4×3 motors beneath the touch-sensitive layer. An initial evaluation of the TaSST revealed that it was mainly suitable for communicating protracted (e.g. pressing), and simple (e.g. poking) touches.

Communication with others occurs through a multitude of signals, such as speech, facial expressions, and body postures. Understudied in this regard is the way we use our sense of touch in social communication. In this paper we present the TaSST (Tactile Sleeve for Social Touch), a haptic communication device that enables two people to communicate through touch at a distance.

This position paper outlines the first stages in an ongoing PhD project on mediated social touch, and the effects mediated touch can have on someone's affective state. It is argued that touch is a profound communication channel for humans, and that communication through touch can, to some extent, occur through mediation. Furthermore, touch can be used to communicate emotions, as well as have immediate affective consequences. The design of an input device, consisting of twelve force-sensitive resistors, to study the communication of emotions through mediated touch is presented. A pilot study indicated that participants used duration of touch and force applied as ways to distinguish between different emotions. This paper will conclude by discussing possible improvements for the input device, how the pilot study fits with the overall PhD project, as well as future directions for the PhD project in general.