EmotionAir: Perception of Emotions from Air Jet Based Tactile Stimulation

Several studies in affective computing consider the role of haptic channel via the tactile and kinesthetic components. However, these works used constraining haptic devices with limited stimulation strategies. This paper proposes to investigate a new haptic device for the tactile stimulation with a mobile air jet. This approach is more suitable for the stimulation of skin mechanoreceptors which play an important role in social and affective behaviors. An experimental study was conducted in order to understand the relationships between the physical features of the air jet and the perception of emotions by participants. The results highlight a main effect of the intensity and movement velocity of the air jet stimulation on the evaluations of valence, arousal, and dominance.