Dorsal Haptic Display: A Shape-changing Car Seat for Sensory Augmentation of Rear Obstacles

For the automotive domain shape-changing interfaces hold potential as an interaction modality since they offer modalities that do not rely on the driver's vision such as traditional screen-based interfaces. In this paper we present a shape-changing car-seat backrest that lets the driver haptically sense obstacles in the rear periphery. We implemented a prototype with a 4 × 4 array of servomotors that changes the shape of the car-seat backrest. In comparison to other approaches that often use the seat for vibro-cues or warnings signals, our approach delivers a continuous dorsal sensory augmentation of the rear periphery. The prototype was studied for its capability on transporting spatial information haptically in a pilot study with 10 participants. The lab study revealed that the interface is able to induce sensory augmentation. Most of the participants were able to spatially locate the stimuli.