SeatNavigator

HAPTICS INTERACTION DESIGN | RAPID PROTOTYPING

Empowering the Visually Impaired to Travel Independently

For visually impaired individuals, there are already many challenges, but most solutions are for private spaces. We saw an opportunity to make public spaces more accessible in the future, specifically by addressing the seat-finding challenge on public transportation, such as buses.

What method do they use currently to find a seat?

"I make sure to quickly apologize to each stranger I end up touching until I find an open seat."

Currently, they rely on methods that can be stressful and anxiety-inducing, such as using a cane to check if a seat is occupied or subtly brushing their elbow against a passenger’s elbow, which can cause discomfort for both individuals.

INDIVIDUALS ON REDDIT ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE:

"The biggest challenge for me is finding a seat independently"

"The level of success I have with this is purely dependent on how anxious I feel on a given day"

"This is definitely the suckiest part for obvious reasons, but I haven't yet come up with a more elegant solution for this"

The Solution

Introducing SeatNavigator

A smart sensing technology empowering the visually impaired to find a seat on the bus in a safe and intuitive manner.

It employs these advanced technologies to create human-centric interactions :

Conductive Paint‍
Applied onto the aisle seats

A smart material technology called Eletrik developed by CMU researchers is capable of 3D objects and surfaces into touch sensors using a low-cost ($20 per sq m) conductive paint.

IoT (Internet of Things)‍
Installed on the aisle seats

The microcontroller - sensor duo helps convert the electric signal from conductive paint to radio signal. The radio waves then carry information about seat status, transmitted in <1s.

01
Whether there are empty seats & where they are located?

02
How far are they from the seat & how do they get to the seat

Initial Concept Exploration

We rapidly prototyped tactile maps & toggle switch integrated into a phone cover

We chose these modalities for prototypes as:

 Readily Accessible

 Inconspicuous (inclusive)

 Smaller learning curve

Wizard of Oz-ing the bus environment

Testing allowed us to learn that we had to constantly give a continuous two-way feedback to guide them to the seat.

Even when participants knew where the empty seat was, they struggled to get to the seat. We also found that some participants tried to scan their surroundings using their phone

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Snippets from our concept prototype testing in our lab

Iterating protoype

Enhancing user experience with intuitive Haptics design

Haptic feedback is accessible to different people with different forms of impairments. It provides continuous feedback in an unobtrusive manner and can be used to guide people as seen in ‘Find My’ technology in Apple.

Continuous feedback

Continuous haptic feedback post initiation reduces ambiguity and anxiety giving them a sense of confidence in the system.

Positive Reinforcement

Going in the right direction, the pattern changes from single vibration to coupled vibration, to give the confidence that its the right direction.

Distance-based precision

As the distance decreases between the user and the selected seat, the precision has to increase in order to lead users to the correct seat

Adding Auditory Feedback

Additionally, to provide an extra layer of confirmation and trust, we added an auditory feedback too as a second form of feedback

Haptic Design for feedback

Here's a quick demo of the haptics interaction

Designing Error States

We also accounted for various error states that could occur during these interactions

01
Moving in a wrong direction

Ambient feedback discontinues

02
In the even of lost connection

An altered haptic vibration takes place

03
Walking past the correct seat

Frequency & intensity of vibrations drop

04
Approaching an occupied seat

A sudden altered haptic vibration takes place

Solution Feasibility

Why is this not a 'design-dreamland' solution?

01
Two forms of feedback, haptic & audio serves diverse sensory preferences.

02
Haptic feedback is inconspicuous and unobtrusive

03
Technology provided through an accessible device serving aged, situationally, and temporarily visually impaired users.

04
The smart material technology used (Wall++) is both easy to implement and cost-effective, priced at just $20 per square meter.

Learnings and Takeaways

One of my favorite projects to work on!

I enjoyed this project because it taught me how to design using haptics technology, which allowed for interactions that extended beyond screen displays. It was exciting to design interactions that focused on other senses rather than visual cues.

We leveraged our alma mater CMU and its great innovations. We used the Wall++ concept, visited the Future Interfaces Lab to understand the technical feasibility of the system. By doing this, we not only focused on designing interactions but also taking in consideration technical feasibility and cost.‍

Team with Professor Dan Saffer