Visual-to-tactile mapping of facial movements for enriched social interactions

This paper presents a haptic interface for augmenting human-human interpersonal interactions by delivering facial expressions of an interaction partner to an individual using a visual-to-tactile mapping of facial action units. Pancake shaftless vibration motors are mounted on the back of a chair to provide vibrotactile stimulation in the context of a dyadic (one-on-one) interaction across a table. This work explores the design of spatiotemporal vibration patterns that can be used to convey the basic building blocks of facial movements according to the Facial Action Unit Coding System. A behavioral study was conducted to explore the factors that influence the naturalness of conveying affect using vibrotactile cues.