What I have learned

I thought that Haptics was only through feel and human touche, and was blow away when I found that it also can be used through technology. I feel that my group members did truly well and that I was the only one to turn in everything late. I also feel that we all have and can take something back from this project. Other then those thoughts I have learned from each person in my group and found their information on Haptics very useful and will apply these new concepts in everyday life.
Thank you group for helping me and doing such a great job,

Works Cited

Works Cited:

Kenneth Salisbury
Conti demonstrates a haptic interface
Salisbury Research Group
Haptics Community
SensAble Technologies
ForceDimension
Stanford News
Stanford Homepage
Stanford University
Vikas Kamble
Zuidhoek S, Kappers AM, Postma A

Online addresses for works cited above:

http://www.esterline.com/interfacetechnologies/Technologies/Touch/HapticTouchProducts/TouchScreen.aspx
Pic 2- http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/What-Is-Haptics-and-How-Does-It-Feel-2.jpg/
Helmholtz Institute, Psychological Laboratory, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.
online address- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16904136
online address- http://www.psychology-lexicon.com/cms/glossary/glossary-h/haptics.html
online address- http://www.slideshare.net/VikasKamble3/hapticsvikas-kamble

Guiding

"When a person is physically moving, a touch on the body, usually the back, shoulder or arm can guide them in the right direction."

Punishment

Touch can be negative. A slap or a punch sends a very strong negative message (that may well get the message sender into very deep trouble!).

Gaining attention

"When you touch another person who is talking or otherwise engaged elsewhere, they are very likely to turn their attention to you. Touching here is very much in safe areas, such as the arm or shoulder. Saying their name at the same time reinforces strongly this move."

Sex

“The present study examined sex differences in haptic orientation representation using three tasks: a bimanual parallel-setting task comprising haptic orientation perception and motor matching action, and two unimanual tasks focusing on the perception and action elements separately. A verbal judgment task focused on haptic orientation perception: participants were to assign a number of minutes to a felt orientation. An orientation production task required the rotation of a bar to match a verbally presented number of minutes. Although both male and female performance was systematically biased we found that males are more accurate in parallel-setting and verbal judgment of orientation, suggesting differences in haptic orientation perception, in particular. Increasing allocentric reference frame involvement by delaying the action in the parallel-setting task did not affect the sex difference found. In addition to a male advantage over tasks, performance on both unimanual tasks suggests sex differences in lateralization of haptic orientation processing; a dependence on hand orientation was found only for right hand performance in males.”

Social

One example of a typically confusing heptic action is the hand shake. The handshake differs in degrees, length and strength between the various levels of intimacy (or gets completely replaced by more intimate heptic behaviour), and from culture to culture.

Feed back

“The process of authentication or the fundamental skills of communicating and learning can be enhanced with a touch screen that provides tactile or touch feedback. Devices that provide synchronized sound and graphics upon touch are more intuitive, personal and satisfying. Now the predictive sensation of touch and response can be applied to touch screens to heighten interaction and usability”

My thoughts of Haptics and technology

This is a perfect example of our groups Nonverbal Codes, on Haptics. I feel that this gives the reader a good idea and understanding of what Haptics is and how it is used. This is not only for everyday use but also through technology which is a cool and great new concept. I know that for most people this idea of combing the two has not been around for long and is a break through not only technology but also for the idea of Haptics alone. I bet that Helslin would place this sort of Hapitcs as functional.

Heslin (1974) outlines the five haptic categories:
1. Functional/professional
2. Social/polite
3. Friendship/warmth
4. Love/intimacy
5. Sexual/arousal
This is only on function that this idea fallows of Heslin on his idea of Haptics. I also feel that this idea and reason for this technology can also fall under the category as social. This is for the sole reason that computers are made mostly for communication.

Artifact

“Haptic technology simulates the sense of touch -- via computer Tactile interface lets surgeons make 'incisions'; computer gamers feel their golf drives
Anyone who thinks a pinch means they aren't dreaming hasn't tried haptics. J. Kenneth Salisbury Jr., research professor of computer science and of surgery, develops tools that allow people to touch --poke, squeeze, stroke and heave -- the objects they see on their computer screen.
Haptics, the science of touch, lets computer users interact with virtual worlds by feel. Some commercial computer games already benefit from early haptic devices, like the force-feedback steering wheels that torque and vibrate on bumpy driving-game roads. But haptics isn't all fun and games. Scientists use computers to simulate not only the impact of a golf club hitting the ball, but also the springiness of a kidney under forceps, the push of an individual carbon nanotube in an atomic force microscope and the texture of clothing for sale on the Internet.

Graduate student François Conti demonstrates a device that lets computer users feel and manipulate the objects depicted on their screens. This spider-like robot can take tactile "pictures." In the lab of Kenneth Salisbury, professor of computer science and of surgery, Conti and other researchers explore haptics -- the science of touch. Photo: L.A. Cicero

Using Salisbury's haptic technology is like exploring the virtual world with a stick. If you run your stick along a cyberspace sidewalk, it vibrates lightly. If you push it into a virtual balloon, you feel the balloon push back. The computer communicates sensations through a haptic interface -- a stick, scalpel, racket or pen that is connected to force-exerting motors.

"By coordinating the forces that are exerted on your handle or your stick or your stylus or your fingertips, you can make it feel as though you're touching something," says Salisbury.
Touch is an unusual sense in that it goes two ways. Haptic interfaces can communicate the contours of a sculpture, and they can apply pressure to sculpt. SensAble Technologies Inc., a spinoff from work Salisbury and colleagues did when he was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, commercialized one such haptic interface in 1993. Designers have used it to carve out of thin air products from Nike shoe soles to Chicken Run collectibles.

Salisbury's Stanford lab also uses a haptic interface from ForceDimension, a company co-founded by graduate student Francois Conti. Conti is using one such device to take tactile "pictures." The spiderlike robot handle presses on a surface and records the forces causing deformation. It can then play back the forces it experienced and make a person holding the handle feel like he's poking the surface himself.

Gaming is one of the first applications of haptics that is being realized. Two students in Salisbury's experimental haptics course last spring programmed a forceful version of virtual ping-pong they called "Haptic Battle Pong." Interest in the game caused an Internet traffic jam that shut down the haptic interface manufacturer's website for a day.”

Also in the works is simulated surgery. Just as commercial pilots train in flight simulators before they're unleashed on real passengers, surgeons will be able to practice their first incisions without actually cutting anyone. Simulation for surgical training is a major focus in Salisbury's lab. This work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and Stanford's Bio-X Program.Creating a realistic, interactive internal organ is no easy feat. "It's not just something that you can touch and say, 'OK, it's round and it's squishy and it's got a bump here,' but something that you can then cut and it will bleed, or sew and it will stop bleeding," Salisbury says.

A liver is more complicated to model than is a ping-pong ball. For a ball, all you have to tell the computer is how soft or hard it is, how sticky or smooth, how stretchy, how dense. One value for each will do the trick. But a liver may get stiffer as you stretch it, or be more elastic in one direction than another. A healthy liver may feel nice and slippery, and a sick liver, not. And modeling the organ in real time, so that the image deforms when you poke it and not a second later, runs up against the limits of computing power.

Go ahead -- squeeze the Charmin
Opposable thumbs are the next step in the evolution of computer haptics. Grasping is a much more natural way to interact with the virtual world. In May, postdoctoral researcher Federico Barbagli will travel to the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Taiwan to present the Salisbury lab's most recent gripper.

The gripper consists of little haptic hats for the thumb and forefinger. With this new two-fingered haptic interface, researchers can pick up a virtual block, and then let it slip controllably between their fingers. That feat requires a degree of finesse, Salisbury says, that simply was not possible before.
The new gripper also has the advantage of being transparent. "A well-designed haptic device is one that makes you feel a contact when you're touching something in the virtual environment, and magically disappears when you're not touching anything," Barbagli says.

Eventually, surgeons will sew virtual stitches with two hands, and virtual surgery will take on an unprecedented degree of realism. "People will really begin to feel like they're holding the tissue and they're tearing it," Salisbury says. "And they'll feel bad about it because they squeezed too hard."
Stanford Report, April 2, 2003

Haptics Functional and Professional

"hap•tics definition
A science concerned with the sense of touch "
This is the definition word for word proved to me my dictionary.com and this is very close but not the same definition that is giving to us and our classroom book. This definition makes a lot of scenes because of the origin, which is provided by the link and paragraph below.
The origin of the word haptics is the Greek haptikos, meaning able to grasp or perceive. Haptic sensations are created in consumer devices by actuators, or motors, which create a vibration. Those vibrations are managed and controlled by embedded software, and integrated into device user interfaces and applications via the embedded control software APIs.

What I have learned

I was very intrigued by the particular topic of haptics, and gained such an interesting perspective after reading all of our blog posts.

I was most interested in "Haptics in Sports", and the ability that we were able to relate this topic to an everyday past time where I could analyze certain sporting events that I watch. With so much verbal communication that drives coaches, athletes, etc., I was happy to find all of the non verbal nuances of the game, that I wouldn't particularly look for in a sporting event.

I also was able to gain a greater understanding of haptics through all of the research articles that my group members had posted. The photos and videos really added another element that will help the reader become more informed through a variety of different mediums.

In closing, I feel that I have a much greater understanding of our topic, and I catch my self being much more of non only my non verbal behavior, but that of others!

What I Have Learned, cont'd

Beginning with Laura's definition from wikipedia, haptics is "the study of touching as nonverbal communication, and haptic communication refers to how people and other animals communicate via touching."

Throughout this blog I have learned so much. We learned that we begin using haptic touch at birth and use it throughout our lifetime. I learned that haptics nonverbal communication differs between men and women and also differs in different cultures. From handshakes to kisses to hugs, these are all forms of haptic nonverbal communication and convey different meanings depending on the settings. Haptic touch can happen in sports, intimate relations, and even our cell phones. In sports, especially high-contact sports, we can see how the players interact with each other nonverbally and the gestures they use. With cell phones, we use haptic technology, especially with touch screen cell phones. I use haptic technology with my iPhone everyday.

Overall, I learned that haptics are key for human exploration in this world. We utilize touch everyday of our lives. This blog really opened my eyes to the different degrees of haptics nonverbal communication. It really is everywhere we look in the world.

What I Have Learned

In my definition of haptics at the beginning of this blog, I wrote that Haptics is the study of touch in non-verbal communication. According to wikipedia, haptics is "the study of touching as nonverbal communication, and haptic communication refers to how people and other animals communicate via touching."

In the subsequent posts by my fellow group members, we discovered examples of touch, and the different areas where we see haptics in the world today. We learned that touch begins at birth, and lasts a lifetime. Anyone who owns a cell phone that uses haptics technology is directly impacted by haptics. We might not have thought about it that way before this blog.

In addition, during this blog and in our studies, I learned that a handshake is a prime example of haptics nonverbal communication. Every time I meet someone at work, I shake their hands while introducing myself. It really is true that you learn something about someone by participating in something as simple as a handshake.

There are other examples of haptics non verbal communication, and how it is approached by people in different cultures, and between genders. I learned how touch is so important to us, and how it begins at birth.  As a Mother, I know how important it was to touch, and hold, my children when they were young. As a result of how their parents approached touch, I believe both of my children approach touch the same way. As a child, I know how comforting touch was when I was much younger, and how it still is comforting as a middle-aged woman.

When I watch a football game, I pay attention to what kind of haptics nonverbal communication is used by the players in the game. Last, I pay attention to how men and women use it in a social gathering.

I believe this blog was a real learning experience because it allowed me to learn about a subject that I use on a daily basis.

The effects of gender and type of romantic touch on perceptions of relational commitment

This study investigated the relationship between intimate touching behaviors and corresponding cognitions of relational commitment as a function of gender. One hundred fifty-two subjects were surveyed regarding perceptions of commitment for seven intimate touches. The 2-way ANOVA revealed significant effects for gender, type of touch, and the touch by gender interaction. Progressively intimate touches were associated with greater commitment. Females associated significantly higher levels of commitment than males, particularly for the more intimate touches. The discrepancy in the level of commitment inferred by gender increases as the touching behavior grows more intimate, resulting in a greater potential for miscommunication across the more intimate channels of haptic communication.

Johnson, K. L., & Edwards, R. (1991). The effects of gender and type of romantic touch on perceptions of relational commitment . Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 15(1), 43-55.

This study was extremely interesting to see the difference in touch between men and women. Women committing more to the intimate touches came as no surprise. However, I thought it very interesting to see that in the more intimate channels of haptic communication, there is a greater risk for miscommunication, especially between men and women. When men and women are intimate, we are supposed to be able to pick up on the intimate touches and their meanings, not miscommunicate them. I think if we studied more of what men and women do as their level of intimate touch increases, we can eliminate a lot of miscommunication between the two.

Haptics in Instant Messaging

It has been shown in this blog, as well as other studies, that haptics communication is in many areas of our lives. Touch begins at birth, and continues throughout our lives until we die.

In 2004, the reach of haptics extended to instant messaging. In a paper written by the Designed Intelligence Group/Department of Industrial Design/ at Eindhoven University of Techology, in the Netherlands, a Haptic Instant Messaging (HIM) framework was introduced. This HIM framework combines haptic effects, and hapticons with communication of textual messages. In the paper, it was written that, "compared to vision and hearing, haptic information is the most direct and intimate manner of person-to-person interaction". (p. 1313)

During the same project, there was a special instant messaging application that provides opportunities for haptic communication by providing users a way to send messages enhanced with haptic effects. There was an application developed by the MIT Palpable Machines Research Group called ContactIM application. A user can pick a partner to communicate with from their contacts list, and throw a ball onto the other ones screen. This ball will continue to bounce around until the recipient responds. Haptic effects, such as feedback joysticks, are added to the ball, and as a result, you can feel the forces when you catch, throw, or swing the ball.

Last, hapticons can be used. Hapticons are small, programmed force patterns that are used to communicate a basic notion. This is similar to the ordinary icons that you see in any graphical user interface. The University of British Columbia has participated in research in the design, and usability of hapticons.

http://people.cs.vt.edu/~wangr06/touch%20review%20origanization/RovE04.pdf

Lack of Haptics?

During the first half of the 20th century, many psychologists believed that showing affection towards children was merely a sentimental gesture that served no real purpose.

Behaviorist John B. Watson once even went so far as to warn parents, "When you are tempted to pet your child, remember that mother love is a dangerous instrument." According to many thinkers of the day, affection would only spread diseases and lead to adult psychological problems.

In a series of controversial experiments conducted in 1960s, Harlow demonstrated the powerful effects of love. By showing the devastating effects of deprivation on young rhesus monkeys, Harlow revealed the importance of a mother's love for healthy childhood development. His experiments were often unethical and shockingly cruel, yet they uncovered fundamental truths that have heavily influenced our understanding of child development.

Here, the lack of touch can cause determent to a newborn child, and affect the way they read and react to other children as they grow up. The lack of touch can sometimes be more harmful to ones mind, than appropriate “over touching.”

Cherry, Kendra "The Science of Love: Harry Harlow & the Nature of Affection"

"It Just Feels Good"

Prior research has assumed that touch has a persuasive effect only if it provides attribute or structural information about a product. Under this view, the role of touch as a persuasive tool is limited. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the persuasive influence of touch as an affective tool in the absence of useful product-related information. The authors find that for people who are motivated to touch because it is fun or interesting, a communication that incorporates touch leads to increased affective response and increased persuasion, particularly when the touch provides neutral or positive sensory feedback. People who are not motivated to touch for fun will also be persuaded by a communication that incorporates touch when they are able to make sense of how the touch is related to the message. The authors explore the effectiveness of different types of touch in generating an affective response, and they replicate the effects on attitudes and behavior in a real-world setting. This research suggests that the marketing implications of touch are more substantial than previously believed. The authors present research implications for direct marketing, product packaging, point-of-purchase displays, and print advertising.

Touch can be used as a persuasive tool, in terms of marketing and getting a response from a potential consumer. This article was able to prove that persons to are more motivated by touch because it is "fun and interesting" (Peck 1) are more apt to be persuaded by a particular product or service. I feel that I can agree with this judgement personally, because I feel more apt to purchase something when my blood is flowing, and I am in an active mood.

http://www.journals.marketingpower.com/doi/abs/10.1509/jmkg.70.4.56?journalCode=jmkg