We present a novel sensory device that can noninvasively capture the muscle activations in the lower arm in unprecedented detail. The primary motivation for building the sensor was to have a new input channel to control modern stateof-the-art multi-degree-of-freedom prosthetic hands, but many interesting use cases have arisen such as its use as an input device in the areas of manual intelligence research, computer gaming and immersive virtual reality environments.The modular compact tactile sensor bracelet has up to 320 highly sensitive sensor elements and measures the bulgings of muscles around the full circumference of the arm. In a preliminary experiment described in this paper, we trained a linear regression model to learn the mapping between the sensor values and flexion of three fingers plus two degrees of freedom of the wrist. The results show that the measured high dimensional force pattern corresponds to targeted single-digit activity.The soft surface of the sensor and the flexible links between the single modules make the bracelet comfortable to wear and conformable to various arm and residual limb shapes.

No abstract

In this paper we present a novel approach for Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) which incorporate small mobile platforms to actuate Tangible User Interface Objects (TUIOs). We propose an application of Tangible Active Objects (TAOs) in combination with gestural interaction for social networking. TUIOs represent messages while gestural input using these objects is used for triggering actions with these messages. We conducted a case study and present the results. We demonstrate interaction with a working social networking client.

Abstract. In this paper we present a proof of concept for saving and restoring mechanisms for Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs). We describe our actuated Tangible Active Objects (TAOs) and explain the design which allows equal user access to a dial-based fully tangible actuated menu metaphor. We present a new application extending an existing TUI for interactive sonification of process data with saving and restoring mechanisms and we outline another application proposal for family therapists.

ZusammenfassungBegreifbare Interaktion ist ein sich etablierendes Forschungsfeld der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion. Ein längst noch nicht vollständig untersuchter Zweig dieses Feldes stellen sich selbst bewegende Objekte dar, die völlig neue, bisher nicht erschöpfend untersuchte Interaktionsmöglichkeiten bieten. Vorgestellt werden unter anderem Mechanismen zum Speichern und automatischen Laden von Anordnungen der begreifbaren Objekte, zwei verschiedene Konzepte zur Kommunikation, sowie ein Datenanalysesystem für Blinde und weitere Ansätze für den Einsatz multi-modaler Interaktionstechniken.