“TECHTILE” is a fundamental concept by combining “TECHnology” with “tacTILE” perception/expression. The TECHTILE project was launched in 2007, and the committee has been hosted public exhibitions on latest haptic technology in Japan.
Our aim is to disseminate the haptic technologies as the third media in the field of art, design, and education and extends the conventional “multi-media” which consists of visual information and auditory information. There has been various haptic devices proposed so far, but most of them are still in emerging stage. To attract the interest of potential users of haptics such as designers, educators, and students, it is necessary to provide easy-to-make and easy-to-use haptic device. We then developed an introductory haptic device called “TECHTILE toolkit”.
Current prototype is composed of a haptic recorder (microphone), some haptic reactors (small vibrators), and a signal amplifier that is optimized to present not only zone of audibility (20-20000Hz) but a