Designing textile-based wearable on-body electronic interfaces utilizing vibro-tactile proprioceptive display

Abstract

With the advent of commercially available heads-up-displays and other mobile information systems, there arises a need for on-body interfaces that can be used accurately and quickly without visual attention. In this dissertation, I examine methods for creating textile-based interfaces supporting effective on-body interaction and robust manufacturing techniques. Using these textile interface techniques I created prototypes to explore the human factors and constraints surrounding methods for interacting with electronic textile touch input. Specifically I looked at how the structure of the textile interfaces can take advantage of the human body’s active touch and passive touch capabilities. In one study I examined how the addition of raised embroidery affords greater opportunities for active touch interactions. I helped test raised embroidery with both multitouch and single touch interactions to improve accuracy and speed of use. In a second larger study of 104 participants, I explored how the addition of active touch and passive touch affect the accuracy and time-to-touch of the on-body textile-based prototype. This study shows that the combination of active touch and vibro-tactile passive touch improves the accuracy (by almost 9% overall and 17% in the center of the interface) and time to touch for non-visual on-body interfaces.