Chemical Haptics: Rendering Haptic Sensations via Topical Stimulants

Video of Chemical Haptics: Rendering Haptic Sensations via Topical Stimulants from ACM UIST 2021. This work was published at ACM UIST 2021 as a full paper, and done by Jasmine Lu, Ziwei Liu, Jas Brooks, and Pedro Lopes at the University of Chicago s Human Computer Integration Lab. Watch this paper s talk: Abstract: We propose a new class of haptic devices that provide haptic sensations by delivering liquidstimulants to the users skin; we call this chemical haptics. Upon absorbing these stimulants, which contain safe and small doses of key active ingredients, receptors in the users skin are chemically triggered, rendering distinct haptic sensations. We identified five chemicals that can render lasting haptic sensations: tingling (sanshool), numbing (lidocaine), stinging (cinnamaldehyde), warming (capsaicin), and cooling (menthol). To enable the application of our novel approach in a variety of settings (such as VR), we engineered a selfcontained wearable that can be worn an