A preliminary study on technique to visualize haptic sensation

An important aspect when implementing haptic system is to resemble as closely as possible the specific real world haptic sensation the feedback is trying to mimic. System designers have used various techniques to improve realism of such sensation. One of the approaches is by involving haptic feedback analysis that employs visualization of haptic sensation. An appropriate analysis and an accurate visual representation could lead to an efficient haptic system development. However, in haptic system development, novice designers do not have proper guidance on how to transform haptic sensation into visual form which later could be used to generate the haptic profiles. This paper addresses the problem by presenting a pilot study that uses Minsky´s technique to visualize haptic sensation. The study involves haptic perception when dealing with foot interaction. The findings confirm that haptic feedback could be classified based on user perceived sensation. The findings also lead to a discussion on individual differences on perception and judgment, a proposed additional category to Minsky´s descriptive technique, and potential field of applications in which foot haptic sensation could be useful.