BotMap

Abstract

The development of novel shape-changing or actuated tabletop tangible interfaces opens new perspectives for the design of physical and dynamic maps, especially for visually impaired (VI) users. Such maps would allow non-visual haptic exploration with advanced functions, such as panning and zooming. In this study, we designed an actuated tangible tabletop interface, called BotMap, allowing the exploration of geographic data through non-visual panning and zooming. In BotMap, small robots represent landmarks and move to their correct position whenever the map is refreshed. Users can interact with the robots to retrieve the names of the landmarks they represent. We designed two interfaces, named Keyboard and Sliders, which enable users to pan and zoom. Two evaluations were conducted with, respectively, ten blindfolded and eight VI participants. Results show that both interfaces were usable, with a slight advantage for the Keyboard interface in terms of navigation performance and map comprehension, and that, even when many panning and zooming operations were required, VI participants were able to understand the maps. Most participants managed to accurately reconstruct maps after exploration. Finally, we observed three VI people using the system and performing a classical task consisting in finding the more appropriate itinerary for a journey.

The FlexiBoard: Tangible and Tactile Graphics for People with Vision Impairments

“…It is also possible to use self-actuated robots that can move on a flat surface and whose configuration can be used to display various graphical representations. For example, Ducasse et al [23] used a fleet of minirobots that could move independently in order to enable people with vision impairment to access panning and zooming functions on maps. Guinness et al [24] also used minirobots on a tablet for several proof-of-concept applications such as an interactive clock, a bar chart or a Braille assistant.…”

“…[28] highlighted the importance of providing timely feedback regarding the status of the system in a tangible interface, and ref. [23] mentioned that interruptions of object tracking sometimes led to a delay in the delivery of feedback, which could affect the user experience.…”

Understanding Touchscreen-based Image Exploration for Screen Reader Users

“…Others focused on investigating the use of zoom operation for PVI for tangible maps [20,6,18,27,22]. Rastogi et al [20], for instance, proposed an intuitive zooming algorithm that senses the current location of the user with position sensors and provides the accurate local information either based on force or tactile feedback.…”

“…Through conducting a user study that compared its ability and usability with other zooming techniques (e.g., linear and logarithmic step zooming), they concluded that their technique allowed users to perform with more accuracy in locating certain objects and showed higher usability than the other two techniques. Also, Ducasse et al [6] introduced BotMap, a tangible tabletop interface, that enables PVI to explore geographical data with non-visual panning and zooming. They designed two interfaces, Keyboard and Slider, to support panning and zooming with tangibility.…”

Adaptable Mixed-Reality Sensorimotor Interface for Human-Swarm Teaming: Person with Limb Loss Case Study and Field Experiments

“…A large body of work exists for swarm interfaces (Suzuki et al, 2022), including joysticks (Murphy, 2004), multi-touch display interfaces (Kato et al, 2009), stylus-based haptic devices (Setter et al, 2015), gesture-based interfaces (Cauchard et al, 2015), gaze-based interfaces (Erat et al, 2018), and physiological interfaces that use signals such as skin-surface EMG (Stoica et al, 2012) and EEG (Karavas et al, 2017). Tangible swarm UIs have also been demonstrated to enable a human planner to manipulate miniature robotic agents or figurines on a tabletop to interact with veridical objects or computer-generated images and maps projected onto the table surface (Le Goc et al, 2016;Ducasse et al, 2018;Kim et al, 2020).…”