Results from Empirical Testing of the System for Tactile Reception of Advanced Patterns (STRAP)

Abstract

The System for Tactile Reception of Advanced Patterns (STRAP) is capable of displaying complex information through tactile actuators on a user's torso. Non-verbal communication requirements from a Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) task and tactile design guidelines resulted greater than 60 distinct tactile symbols for communication and a context free grammar. This empirical evaluation is the first step in validating the STRAP system as a complement to traditional communication methods such as military hand and arm signals and radio. Nine participants were trained on the entire tactile language to a 90% criterion and were asked to utilize a small subset of the vocabulary while completing room clearing tasks using a virtual desktop simulation. The results show no significant difference in room clearing performance when haptic versus verbal communications were provided, indicating that the STRAP system shows promise as a complementary communication device. Improvements to both the tactile display and symbols are discussed as a means to improve recognition of haptic commands and overall system utility.