Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The System for Tactile Reception of Advanced Patterns (STRAP) is capable of displaying complex information through tactile actuators on a user's torso. Non-verbal communication requirements from a Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) task and tactile design guidelines resulted greater than 60 distinct tactile symbols for communication and a context free grammar. This empirical evaluation is the first step in validating the STRAP system as a complement to traditional communication methods such as military hand and arm signals and radio. Nine participants were trained on the entire tactile language to a 90% criterion and were asked to utilize a small subset of the vocabulary while completing room clearing tasks using a virtual desktop simulation. The results show no significant difference in room clearing performance when haptic versus verbal communications were provided, indicating that the STRAP system shows promise as a complementary communication device. Improvements to both the tactile display and symbols are discussed as a means to improve recognition of haptic commands and overall system utility.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Brill

J. C.

Terrence

P. I.

Stafford

Gilson

R. D.

(2006). A Wireless Tactile Communication System for Conveying U.S. Army Hand-arm Signals. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 50th Annual Meeting, pp. 2247–2249.

Chiasson

McGrath

Rupert

(2003). Enhanced Situation Awareness in Sea, Air, and Land Environments; DTIC Technical Report. ADP013874; Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory: Pensacola, FL.

Dobbins

Samways

(2002). The Use of Tactile Navigation Cues in High-Speed Craft Operations. Proceedings of the RINA Conference on High Speed Craft: Technology and Operation, pp 13–20. London: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

Fuchs

Johnston

M.R.

Hale

K.S

Axelsson

(2008). Results from Pilot Testing a System for Tactile Reception of Advanced Patterns (STRAP). Presented at 52nd Annual Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Meeting New York, NY, Sept 22–26.

Geldard

F.A.

(1957). Adventures in tactile literacy. American Psychologist, 12, 115–124.

Jones

L.A.

Nakamura

Lockyer

(2004). Development of a tactile vest. Proceedings from 12th International Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems.

Merlo

J.L.

Stafford

Gilson

Hancock

P.A.

(2006). The effects of physiological stress on tactile communication. Presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, San Francisco, CA.

Schaffer

Cohn

(2006). A System for Evaluating Training Transfer between Virtual and Live Urban Environments”, in Proceedings of the Huntsville Simulation Conference, October 2006, The Society for Modeling and Simulation International.

U.S. Department of the Army (1992). Fratricide: Reducing Self-Inflicted Losses, Newsletter, No. 92–4 (Fort Leavenworth, Kans.: Center for Army Lessons Learned, US Army Combined Arms Command, Apr 1992).

10.

Van Erp

J.B.F.

Van Veen

H.A.H.C.

(2004). Vibrotactile In-Vehicle Navigation System. Transportation Research part F: Human Factors 2004, 7, 247–256.

11.