Nervous System Interception: A New Paradigm for Haptics

When outputting information to our senses, almost all wearable interfaces follow the same principle: externally generating stimuli (e.g., lights, sounds, vibrations) and then presenting them via devices placed at the endpoints of our sensory system, such as head-mounted displays facing the eyes and vibration motors on the skin. While this intuitive approach of stimulating the endpoints might be sufficient for audiovisual interfaces, we argue that when it comes to engaging the sense of touch (i.e., haptics), it will be insufficient to support a wide variety of interactive experiences. Even a single haptic device on the hand will obstruct users from touching or grabbing objects in the real world, making it undesirable for mixed reality. Let alone scaling this approach to a larger portion of the body, which would restrict the user’s whole body. My research introduces an alternative approach to haptic output: instead of stimulating endpoints with external stimuli, we explore interactive devices that “internally” send electrical signals to the user’s nervous system—intercepting the nervous system. Our approach creates haptic sensations beyond the point where the device is worn, establishing a basis for enabling haptic feedback while keeping the user’s body free and scaling haptic interfaces to work for the entire body. This paper provides an overview of our approach: (1) how intercepting the nerves can provide touch and force feedback without obstructing the user’s body with actuators; (2) how it can integrate into practical wearable devices such as a smartwatch; and (3) its potential to eventually generalize to a full-body interface by intercepting the user’s brain.