Please note: This PhD seminar will take place in DC 3317.
Anchit Mishra, PhD candidate
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
Supervisors: Professors Matthew Brehmer, Oliver Schneider, Daniel Vogel
Haptic experiences are highly personal, but despite prior work exploring different interfaces enabling personalization, we don’t know what process drives the personalization of haptics. To enable a study of this process, including users’ mental models and vocabularies, we introduce TacTalk, a conversational system enabling users to tune virtual haptic experiences in real time. We present an application using TacTalk in a popular racing video game, Forza Horizon 5, and evaluate the system’s usability and technical consistency. We find that users perceive significantly lower cognitive load with TacTalk and find it more usable compared to a slider-based interface. We also learn that tracking user preference profiles improves TacTalk’s ability to cater to individual differences. Finally, a thematic analysis of participant interviews reveals an archetypal process — starting with real-world experiences and domain-specific metaphors, then subsequently drilling down on specific aspects of the experience including in-game events and the game controller.