@article{KreimeierBielmeierGoetzelmann2018, author = {Kreimeier, Julian and Bielmeier, Tobias and G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {Evaluation of Capacitive Markers Fabricated by 3D Printing, Laser Cutting and Prototyping}, series = {Journal of Inventions: Special Issue Innovations in 3-D Printing}, volume = {2018}, journal = {Journal of Inventions: Special Issue Innovations in 3-D Printing}, number = {Volume 3, Issue 1, Article 9}, publisher = {MDPI}, doi = {10.3390/inventions3010009}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:92-opus4-5603}, pages = {18}, year = {2018}, abstract = {With Tangible User Interfaces, the computer user is able to interact in a fundamentally different and more intuitive way than with usual 2D displays. By grasping real physical objects, information can also be conveyed haptically, i.e., the user not only sees information on a 2D display, but can also grasp physical representations. To recognize such objects ("tangibles") it is skillful to use capacitive sensing, as it happens in most touch screens. Thus, real objects can be located and identified by the touch screen display automatically. Recent work already addressed such capacitive markers, but focused on their coding scheme and automated fabrication by 3D printing. This paper goes beyond the fabrication by 3D printers and, for the first time, applies the concept of capacitive codes to laser cutting and another immediate prototyping approach using modeling clay. Beside the evaluation of additional properties, we adapt recent research results regarding the optimized detection of tangible objects on capacitive screens. As a result of our comprehensive study, the detection performance is affected by the type of capacitive signal processing (respectively the device) and the geometry of the marker. 3D printing revealed to be the most reliable technique, though laser cutting and immediate prototyping of markers showed promising results. Based on our findings, we discuss individual strengths of each capacitive marker type.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Goetzelmann2015, author = {G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {CapMaps: Capacitive Sensing 3D Printed Audio-Tactile Maps}, series = {Proc. 15th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs}, volume = {2015}, booktitle = {Proc. 15th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-41266-5}, pages = {146 -- 152}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Tactile maps can be useful tools for blind people for navigation and orientation tasks. Apart from static maps, there are techniques to augment tactile maps with audio content. They can be used to interact with the map content, to offer extra information and to reduce the tactile complexity of a map. Studies show that audio-tactile maps can be more efficient and satisfying for the user than pure tactile maps without audio feedback. A major challenge of audio-tactile maps is the linkage of tactile elements with audio content and interactivity. This paper introduces a novel approach to link 3D printed tactile maps with mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, in a flexible way to enable interactivity and audio-support. By integrating conductive filaments into the printed maps it seamlessly integrates into the 3D printing process. This allows to automatically recognize the tactile map by a single press at its corner. Additionally, the arrangement of the tactile map on the mobile device is flexible and detected automatically which eases the use of these maps. The practicability of this approach is shown by a dedicated feasibility study.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{GoetzelmannEichler2015, author = {G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo and Eichler, Laura}, title = {BlindWeb Maps - An Interactive Web Service for the Selection and Generation of Personalized Audio-Tactile Maps}, series = {Proc. 15th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs}, volume = {2015}, booktitle = {Proc. 15th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-319-41266-5}, pages = {139 -- 145}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Tactile maps may contribute to the orientation of blind people or alternatively be used for navigation. In the past, the generation of these maps was a manual task which considerably limited their availability. Nowadays, similar to visual maps, tactile maps can also be generated semi-automatically by tools and web services. The existing approaches enable users to generate maps by entering a specific address or point of interest. This can in principle be done by a blind user. However, these approaches actually show an image of the map on the users display which cannot be read by screen readers. Consequently, the blind user does not know what is on the map before it is printed. Ideally, the map selection process should give the user more information and freedom to select the desired excerpt. This paper introduces a novel web service for blind people to interactively select and automatically generate tactile maps. It adapts the interaction concept for map selection to the requirements of blind users whilst supporting multiple printing technologies. The integrated audio review of the map's contents allows earlier feedback to review if the currently selected map extract corresponds to the desired information need. Changes can be initiated before the map is printed which, especially for 3D printing, saves much time. The user is able to select map features to be included in the tactile map. Furthermore, the map rendering can be adapted to different zoom levels and supports multiple printing technologies. Finally, an evaluation with blind users was used to refine our approach.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{GoetzelmannAlthaus2016, author = {G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo and Althaus, Christoph}, title = {TouchSurfaceModels: Capacitive Sensing Objects through 3D Printers}, series = {Proc. 9th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments}, volume = {2016}, booktitle = {Proc. 9th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, isbn = {978-1-4503-4337-4}, pages = {Article No. 22, pp. 1-8}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Nowadays, 3D models can be downloaded from the internet and increasingly be printed by low cost 3D printers. In the future, blind people could benefit from this tendency. Unfortunately, many of these models are rather complex and not appropriate for the purely tactile exploration. To obtain quantitative data about how 3D printable models for blind people should be constructed, the tactile exploration can be recorded by video. However, the analysis of these videos is quite time consuming and expensive. Additionally, inaccuracies and masking effects may impede the use of this technique. In this paper we introduce a novel approach to automatically equip existing 3D models with a mesh of conductive wires which enable a touch sensitive surface for the printed 3D objects. These touch sensing 3D models can be printed in one turn by off-the-shelf 3D printers and used as an alternative to video recording. It allows exact registration of when and where the 3D object has been touched. In our multi-touch solution, particular attention has been paid to limit the number of necessary wires between 3D object and sensing electronics. Finally, our approach is evaluated by a feasibility study.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Goetzelmann2014, author = {G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {Interactive Tactile Maps for Blind People using Smartphones Integrated Cameras}, series = {Proc. 9th ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS'14)}, volume = {2014}, booktitle = {Proc. 9th ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (ITS'14)}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, isbn = {978-1-4503-2587-5}, pages = {381 -- 385}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Tactile maps may support blind persons in orientation and understanding geographical relations, but their availability is still very limited. However, recent technologies such as 3D printers allow to autonomously print individual tactile maps which can be linked with interactive applications. Besides geographical depictions, textual annotation of maps is crucial. However, this often adds much complexity to tactile maps. To limit tactile complexity, interactive approaches may help to complement maps by the auditive modality. The presented approach integrates barcodes into tactile maps to allow their detection by standard smartphones' cameras. Automatically, more detailed map data is obtained to auditively support the exploration of the tactile map. Our experimental implementation shows the principal feasibility and provides the basis of ongoing comprehensive user studies.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{Goetzelmann2015, author = {G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {SmartTactMaps: A Smartphone-Based Approach to Support Blind Persons in Exploring Tactile Maps}, series = {Proc. 8th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments}, volume = {2015}, booktitle = {Proc. 8th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, isbn = {978-1-4503-3452-5}, pages = {2:1-2:8}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Despite increasing digitalization of our society many blind persons still have very limited access to predominantly pictorial information such as maps. In this paper we introduce a novel approach to improve the accessibility of maps for blind users by utilizing the abilities of standard smartphones. A major issue of tactile maps is the limited discriminability of the humans' tactile sense. Textual annotation of maps is crucial, but adds much complexity to tactile maps. Additionally, only few Braille labels can be accommodated to maintain legibility. In our approach we link smartphones with adapted tactile maps which transforms the physical maps into interactive surfaces using both the tactile and the auditory modality. We integrate machine readable metadata into these maps which can be recognized by the smartphones' camera to immediately obtain detailed map descriptions from a free global database. During tactile exploration of the map, blind users can request auditory explanations by interacting with the mobile application. An experimental application and a user study demonstrate the feasibility of our approach.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{GoetzelmannVazquez2015, author = {G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo and V{\´a}zquez, Pere-Pau}, title = {InclineType: An Accelerometer-based Typing Approach for Smartwatches}, series = {Proc. 16th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction}, volume = {2015}, booktitle = {Proc. 16th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, isbn = {978-1-4503-3463-1}, pages = {Article No. 59}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Small mobile devices such as smartwatches are a rapidly growing market. However, they share the issue of limited input and output space which could impede the success of these devices in future. Hence, suitable alternatives to the concepts and metaphors known from smartphones have to be found. In this paper we present InclineType a tilt-based keyboard input that uses a 3-axis accelerometer for smartwatches. The user may directly select letters by moving his/her wrist and enters them by tapping on the touchscreen. Thanks to the distribution of the letters on the edges of the screen, the keyboard dedicates a low amount of space in the smartwatch. In order to optimize the user input our concept proposes multiple techniques to stabilize the user interaction. Finally, a user study shows that users get familiar with this technique with almost no previous training, reaching speeds of about 6 wpm in average.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KreimeierGoetzelmann2018, author = {Kreimeier, Julian and G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {FeelVR: Haptic Exploration of Virtual Objects}, series = {Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference (PETRA '18)}, volume = {2018}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments Conference (PETRA '18)}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York}, doi = {10.1145/3197768.3201526}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:92-opus4-5611}, pages = {122 -- 125}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The interest in virtual and augmented reality increased rapidly in the last years. Recently, haptic interaction and its applications get into focus. In this paper, we suggest the exploration of virtual objects using off-the-shelf VR game controllers. These are held like a pen with both hands and were used to palpate and identify the virtual object. Our study largely coincides with comparable previous work and shows that a ready-to-use VR system can be basically used for haptic exploration. The results indicate that virtual objects are more effectively recognized with closed eyes than with open eyes. In both cases, objects with a bigger morphological difference were identified the most frequently. The limitations due to quality and quantity of tactile feedback should be tackled in future studies that utilize currently developed wearable haptic devices and haptic rendering involving all fingers or even both hands. Thus, objects could be identifiable more intuitively and haptic feedback devices for interacting with virtual objects will be further disseminated.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KreimeierHammerFriedmannetal.2019, author = {Kreimeier, Julian and Hammer, Sebastian and Friedmann, Daniel and Karg, Pascal and B{\"u}hner, Clemens and Bankel, Lukas and G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {Evaluation of Different Types of Haptic Feedback Influencing the Task-based Presence and Performance in Virtual Reality}, series = {Proceedings of the 12th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA'19)}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 12th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (PETRA'19)}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, isbn = {978-1-4503-6232-0}, pages = {289 -- 298}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Haptic feedback may support immersion and presence in virtual reality (VR) environments. The emerging market of consumer devices offers first devices which are expected to increase the degree of feeling being actually present in a virtual environment. In this paper we introduce a novel evaluation that examines the influence of different types of haptic feedback on presence and performance regarding manual tasks in VR. Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive user study involving 14 subjects, who performed throwing, stacking and object identification tasks in VR with visual (i.e., sensory substitution), vibrotactile or force feedback. We measured the degree of presence and task-related performance metrics. Our results indicate that regarding presence vibrotactile feedback outperforms haptic feedback which performs better than visual feedback only. In addition, force feedback significantly lowered the execution time for the throwing and the stacking task. In object identification tasks, the vibrotactile feedback increased the detection rates compared to the vibrotactile and force feedback, but also increased the required time of identification. Despite the inadequacies of the still young consumer technology, there were nevertheless strong indications of connections between presence, task fulfillment and the type of haptic feedback.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{KreimeierGoetzelmann2019, author = {Kreimeier, Julian and G{\"o}tzelmann, Timo}, title = {First Steps Towards Walk-In-Place Locomotion and Haptic Feedback in Virtual Reality for Visually Impaired}, series = {CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts (CHI'19 Extended Abstracts)}, volume = {2019}, booktitle = {CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts (CHI'19 Extended Abstracts)}, publisher = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, isbn = {978-1-4503-5971-9}, pages = {1 -- 6}, year = {2019}, abstract = {This paper presents the first results on a user study in which people with visual impairments (PVI) explored a virtual environment (VE) by walking in a virtual reality (VR) treadmill. As recently suggested, we have now acquired first results from our feasibility study investigating this walk-in-place interaction. This represents a new, more intuitive way of for example virtually exploring unknown spaces in advance. Our prototype consists of off-the-shelf VR components (i.e., treadmill, headphones, glasses, and controller) providing a simplified white cane simulation and was tested by six visually impaired subjects. Our results indicate that this interaction is yet difficult, but promising and an important step to make VR more and better usable for PVIs. As an impact on the CHI community, we would like to make this research field known to a wider audience by sharing our intermediate results and suggestions for improvements, on some of which we are already working on.}, language = {en} }