Tactile feedback is one of the most direct and underrated forms of communication
Use smartphones to exchange tactile information
Needed computing power available
Necessary features (vibrate function, accelerometer, wireless connectivity) built in
Application Szenario
One user has the application running on his phone. Two or more other users "tune in" to feel his movement.
If the the first user moves his phone the other users phone vibrate.
Objectives
The project goals are
App for smartphones (Android and other platforms)
Connection via XMPP
Contact handling with privacy options
Mapping between movement and vibration
Publication to platforms like Android Market or Appstore and Evaluation
Description
Android app
Connection via XMPP/PubSub
Mapping between movement information and vibration filtered through high- and lowpass filters.
Results
The result is an application running on Android phones.
The video shows the user interface and available features.
Discussion and Conclusion
In general the planned project objectives have been achieved. We were
able to show that a mapping between acceleration data generated by
movement and vibriations is possible. But there where a few goals that
had to be changed due to some issues.
Implementation for other OS than Android failed because of issues
with multithreading and usage of the vibration function i.e. in iOS
Connections to the XMPP server were limited to the IP range of
the university network. This point prevented a release to the Android
market
Outlook
Place the app in the Android Market. This will include the usage of a server that could handle the traffic of many users
