shapeShift: A Mobile Tabletop Shape Display for Tangible and Haptic Interaction

We explore interactions enabled by 2D spatial manipulation and self-actuation of a tabletop shape display. To explore these interactions, we developed shapeShift, a compact, high-resolution (7 mm pitch), mobile tabletop shape display. shapeShift can be mounted on passive rollers allowing for bimanual interaction where the user can freely manipulate the system while it renders spatially relevant content. shapeShift can also be mounted on an omnidirectional-robot to provide both vertical and lateral kinesthetic feedback, display moving objects, or act as an encountered-type haptic device for VR. We present a study on haptic search tasks comparing spatial manipulation of a shape display for egocentric exploration of a map versus exploration using a fixed display and a touch pad. Results show a 30% decrease in navigation path lengths, 24% decrease in task time, 15% decrease in mental demand and 29% decrease in frustration in favor of egocentric navigation.

Technical Implementation

Open Source Files

shapeShift is an open source platform. Find all supporting documentation here. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Papers

• Alexa F. Siu, Eric J. Gonzalez, Shenli Yuan, Jason B. Ginsberg, and Sean Follmer. 2018. shapeShift: 2D Spatial Manipulation and Self-Actuation of Tabletop Shape Displays for Tangible and Haptic Interaction. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ‘18). ACM, New York, NY, USA. DOI: //doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173865

Demos & Work-In-Progress

• Alexa F. Siu, Eric J. Gonzalez, Shenli Yuan, Jason Ginsberg, Allen Zhao, and Sean Follmer. 2017. shapeShift: A Mobile Tabletop Shape Display for Tangible and Haptic Interaction. In Adjunct Publication of the 30th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST ‘17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 77-79. DOI: //doi.org/10.1145/3131785.3131792
• Alexa F. Siu, Eric J. Gonzalez, Shenli Yuan, Jason Bud Ginsberg, and Sean Follmer. 2018. shapeShift: A Mobile Tabletop Shape Display for Tangible and Haptic Interaction. In Haptics Symposium 2018. San Francisco, CA, USA.

Press

• 2018 Fastco Innovation by Design Awards Honorable Mention in the Student Category. (2018). Fast Co Design.
• Volkswagen Brings Sense of Touch to Virtual Reality. (April 25, 2019). Wall Street Journal.
• This Shape-Shifting, Pin-Headed Robot Lets You Feel Virtual Objects With Your - Bare Hands. (April 27, 2018). Gizmodo.
• A Computer Mouse For The Year 3000. (April 30, 2018). Fast Co Design.