Researchers in the Department of Computer Science (Eve Hoggan, Craig Stewart, Laura Haverinen and Giulio Jacucci) and Nokia Research Center (Vuokko Lantz) have investigated the augmentation of traditional phone calls with haptic interaction. ForcePhone is a mobile synchronous haptic communication system. During phone calls, users can squeeze the side of the device and the pressure level is mapped to vibrations on the recipient’s device. The pressure/vibrotactile messages supported by ForcePhone are called pressages. The results showed that an additional haptic channel of communication can be integrated into mobile phone calls using a pressure to vibrotactile mapping with local and remote feedback. The longitudinal study showed that such a system has value as a communication channel in real-world settings with users expressing greetings, presence and emotions through pressages.

 

Contact Eve Hoggan for more information at eve.hoggan(@)helsinki.fi

 

Engadget article

 

Technology Review

 

The paper can be downloaded here