RoboBunting

RoboBunting brings cat-like playfulness to robots through a simple furry paddle that users stroke, scratch, and pet while it gently pushes back in coordinated force exchanges. Inspired by feline behaviour, this minimalist haptic device acts as a lively leader or responsive follower by varying stiffness, motion speed, and timing to evoke social traits like extroversion, liveliness, and aliveness. The work paves the way for companion robots that deepen emotional bonds via natural bilateral touch dynamics, ideal for therapy or reducing isolation.

Affective Haptics Applications

At SPIN, we are designing to apply affective haptic technologies in practice for applications such as facilitating emotion regulation, supporting synchronization during remote work, and many more. 

CALMER, the non-Mom

Designed as a bland, unobtrusive appliance, Calmer is a bed for premature infants that replicates mothers' breathing movement and heart rate. 

Haptics in Education

Educational haptic platforms can leverage various modalities in order create effective interactive environments that can support embodied physical interactions. These platforms have the potential to leverage a student’s physical intuition to make abstract topics in physics, math, and other fields of science more concrete. 

Voodle

Voodle is an interface that uses vocal input to design haptic behaviour.

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