Design and Comparison of Haptic Policies for Human Guidance

In this work we compare haptic-based human guidance approaches. We considered both delivering to the user step-by-step instructions towards the goal, and a sensory augmentation policy that provides the knowledge necessary to complete the task using a self-selected strategy. The approaches were evaluated in a collaborative scenario with couples of participants carrying a bulky object under the sole guidance of haptics. Stimuli were generated by a vibrotactile belt according to three haptic policies. Results revealed that the availability of the direction to the destination was a crucial aspect for achieving best temporal performance and high usability ratings.