A Tangible Information Explorer Using Vibratory Touch Screen

Touch panel displays are becoming available for implementing futuristic human computer interaction (HCI) methods and are proven to be a useful infrastructure for creating intuitive HCI. In spite of their popularity, there are some drawbacks. The most serious one is their hardness to operate especially for the weak in information technology such as elderly and blind users. A tactile feedback function has a potential ability for enabling them to make full use of the devices. We propose an approach for effectively designing user-friendly HCI based on the tactile feedback. We exemplify our approach through the design and development of a practical application, a haptic web browser. It allows even the weak users to intuitively explore various web pages without heavily depending on the visual information. While the system targets at supporting the weak, the touch interactions are quite useful means for general public to improve the stability and the degree of satisfaction in web browsing operations. The proposed system uses a touch panel haptic display for helping the users to operate with intuitive touch sensations.