Feelable User Interfaces: An Exploration of Non-Visual Tangible User Interfaces

Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) allow the representation of digital information via a number of sensory modalities including the haptic, visual and auditory senses. In this paper we suggest that the visual component of many TUIs dominates over the physical, to a detriment in the quality of the physical interaction. In order to investigate the possibilities of interacting with a less visually biased TUI we explore the extreme case of an almost entirely non-visual interface.
We present an exploratory design of a Feelable User Interface (FUI), allowing the physical manipulation of an object over a textured surface whilst visually hiding both object and texture. This initial test investigates basic interaction with a FUI; the further aim is to guide the design of a FUI that allows the digital control of physical surface texture. Our aim in developing FUIs is to open up a novel design space for developing new TUIs, based upon the concepts of nuanced haptic interactions and a decreased reliance on the visual representation of information.