Introducing liquid haptics in high bandwidth human computer interfaces

This thesis presents liquid haptics as a new way of communicating with computa-tional media. Liquid haptics refers to computer interfaces utilizing liquid filled con-tainers and designed to take advantage of the fine tactile sense and motor control of the hands. Here, liquid haptics is implemented using pillow shaped bladders to both measure high bandwidth tactile information from a person and deliver force feedback in the liquid itself. The input system can measure detailed two dimen-sional information about the hands with a high refresh rate. The output system can provide subtle force feedback cues by dynamically changing the viscosity properties of the liquid substrate. These systems represent a system of interacting with computational media that is both efficient and pleasurable. I describe the design and construction of the liquid haptic systems that were created and show examples of applications where liquid haptics makes sense