FORCE-UI: Force-Responsive Deformable User Interfaces

Touch input is the universal approach for communicating intention to interactive computing systems. However, touchscreens are flat, solid surfaces that fail to reproduce the qualities of real-world object interaction (e.g. deformation, stiffness, springiness). Further, their expressivity is fundamentally bounded by a single measurable dimension: contact with a solid, touch-sensitive surface.

This project will radically increase the expressivity of touchscreen-based interaction by co-locating three force modalities into a single visual display surface (force input, resistive- and kinetic- force feedback). These new displays will allow users to 'push through' a display and for the display to 'push back'.

I'll soon be hiring two post-doctoral researchers and two PhDs to join the project. Get in touch if you have strong HCI, hardware development, and/or evaluation skills!