Abstract
A new haptics design for visualizing data is constructed out of commodity massage pads and custom controllers and interfaces to a computer. It is an output device for information that can be transmitted to a user who sits on the pad. Two unique properties of the design are: (a) its large feedback area and (b) its passive nature, where unlike most current haptics devices, the user's hands are free to work on other things. To test how useful such a device is for visualizing data, we added the VisPad interface to our protein structure-alignment program (ProtAlign) and performed usability studies. The studies demonstrated that information could be perceived significantly faster utilizing our multi-modal presentation compared to vision-based graphical visualization alone.
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