Toward iconic vibrotactile information display using floor surfaces

This paper presents our preliminary research on haptic displays integrated in floor surfaces. We emphasize potential roles for the latter as vibrotactile communication channels that might be seamlessly integrated in everyday environments. We describe the interactive floor component that is the platform for our research, and an application we have developed to support the design of vibrotactile icon sets for display with the device. The results of a preliminary evaluation of this display method are presented, and future directions for this research are described.