Abstract:

Our sense of touch is present in almost all our interactions with the world, from providing us with the feedback necessary to perceive and manipulate objects without having to look at them, to allowing our limbs to move and walk without us having to think about how to take the next step. We use touch to communicate nonverbally with each other, as well as to learn through exploration and embodiment.

Even though the sense of touch is such an important part of our in-person experiences, our human-computer and human-robot interactions are limited to using devices such as mice, keyboards, and screens.

In this talk I will present the progress we have made towards incorporating the sense of touch in our interactions with technology. I will present the development of a novel tactile haptic device which uses polymers embedded with ferromagnetic particles and electromagnetic fields for cutaneous actuation, advances towards the development of a human-robot touch interface for guidance, investigation into a haptic interface for blind and visually impaired students, and a robotic loom for interdisciplinary learning.