Design of a Massage-Inspired Haptic Device for Interpersonal Connection in Long-Distance Communication

Table 1

Existing haptic communication devices categorized by interactions allowed.

Device name	Description	Findings from user tests
Touch only
ComTouch; [8]	A device that converted hand presser into vibrational intensity between users in real time.	Strong relationships between audio and haptic channels were found. Haptic uses were emphasis, mimicry, and turn-taking.
Haptic Instant Messaging; [9]	Text messages plus haptic effects, input pad is at a hand, while a vibration output module can be stick to any part of body.	-
Vivitouch; [10]	A vibration pad which was paired with visual stimuli.	Haptic sense increases emotions’ arousal regardless of how gentle the vibration is, and valence is dominated by visual sense.
CheekTouch; [11].	An integrated mobile phone device that vibrates at the cheek if touched during phone call.	The use of the device emphasizes stronger emotions.
UltraHaptics system; [12]	Air pressure waves were generated on the user hand from an array of ultrasound transducers.	Participants were relatively good at interpreting arousal than valence using air pressure.
Thermo-message; [13]	A wristband with Peltier device that can give hot and cold sensation to the wearer	The perception of thermal expressions is dependent on the context of the situation.
TouchMe; [14].	An armband Peltier device for children which parents can send a thermal message to their children anytime.	Multiple uses of thermal interaction could arise by engaging the parents in a new type of interaction with the children.
Touch and Squeeze
VibroBod; [15]	It contains force-sensitive resistors and microphones. Force and location input resulted in different frequencies and vibration patterns in paired device.	At first people were alarmed by the vibrations. Most users found VibroBod generated meaningful experiences.
-; [16]	A vibrotactile device sends touch and squeeze as vibrations in the paired device.	Success rate of communicating emotions was 17-75% for valence and 50-83% for arousal.
-; [17, 18]	Squeezing resulted in pressure on the wrist, covering with hands resulted in heat, and stroking upward repeatedly resulted in cold feedback.	Pressure emphasizes certain words in the discussion. Warm is used for positive, and cold for negative meaning.
Tap
Taptap; [19]	A wearable haptic scarf that can record, broadcast and playback human touch as vibration.	Male preferred strong vibration while female preferred lighter vibration.
Poke
Poke; [20]	An inflatable surface on smartphone which poke the cheek when the paired user uses a finger to poke their screen.	-
Tickle
Kusuguri; [21]	A smartphone with vibration motors, a user tickles the screen, and the paired user will see finger moving across their screen and feel tickling sensation.	The vibration was not similar to tickle sensation, but the users enjoyed using the device.
Stroking
Tactile Sleeve for Social Touch; [22, 23]	A wearable sleeve consisting of a pressure sensitive input layer and a vibrotactile actuator output layer.	There were some relations between tactile expression and emotions.
Prototype A; [24]	A handheld device takes input from stroking thumbs, and outputs in an arm stoking the palm.	Participants liked prototype A more than B, because the stroking is more elegant as input than rotating the knobs, and the output was gentler with only one rotating arm.
Prototype B; [24]	A handheld device takes input from rotating a knob, and outputs in four arms stoking the palm.
Skin-writing
Skin Drag; [25]	A wearable device that has a tractor moving across user’s skin.	Users can recognize the shape from skin drag better than from vibrotactile array.
Handshake
PHANToM; [26]	The device represents the force feedback to the users. It was used as a hand shaking device.	Participants were 62% convinced that force from the device represented real-life handshake’s feeling.
Immersion Impulse Engine 2000; [27, 28]	Force feedback joystick providing two degree of freedom movements, and maximum force of 8.9 N.	Male participants liked people who mimicked their handshakes more than female participants.
Hand-Holding, Wrist-Holding
YourGlove; [29]	A user holds a robotic hand and the paired hand will contract gently around another user’s hand.	Participants liked the HotHands and HotMits more than YourGlove due to the unnaturalness of movement of the robot hand.
HotHands; [29]	This device has the shape of human hand and output in heat.
HotMits; [29]	This device is a handprint on a flat surface which produces heat when the other is touched.
Hug
HUG; [30]	An air inflatable vest that creates presser resembling to a hug when triggered. The input is hugging a doll.	Participants commented that the sound of the pump was too loud but the device itself was interesting.
HugMe; [31]	A jacket with arrays of vibrotactile actuators to simulate the sense of touch from a force feedback device.	-
Huggy Pajama; [32]	Input is a mobile doll with pressure sensors, sending hug to a haptic jacket with air pumps.	-
HaptiHug; [33]	The hug is generated by rotating motors tensing a chest strap worn by users	This method allows the hug sensation without loud noise of pump actuators
Kiss
Kissenger; [34]	An interactive device that transmit force and shape of a kiss between two remote partners.	Most users enjoyed using the device and felt that Kissenger improved their communication.