Framework for K-12 education haptic applications

While haptic technology has been utilized for decades in various fields, it has yet to be fully utilized in K-12 education. The main barriers to its use have been the cost of the devices and the specialized programming skills required to quickly produce applications for the classroom. This paper discusses the development of a framework that can be used to reduce the time to develop haptic-based applications for the K-12 classroom. While the project discussed focuses on producing applications for students who are blind or visually impaired, the framework developed is general, but embeds aspects that make the applications accessible to the target audience. This framework assists in eliminating the barriers to using haptics in K-12 education by reducing the time and specialized knowledge needed to develop applications and by employing a low-cost force-feedback haptic device.