Place: Suwon, Korea
Conference Website: https://2025.worldhaptics.org/
This year, Ho Lab presented one oral [1] and one poster presentation [2]. The poster presentation is a collaborative work with Dr. Lynette Jones of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Dr. Masahiko Terao of Yamaguchi University [2]. In addition, Prof. Ho co-organized the workshop "Speculating the Future(s) of Mediated Social Touch Technology" and delivered a keynote speech online at the event [3].
[Technical paper] Naoki Kameyama, Takayuki Kameoka, and Hsin-Ni Ho (2025) "Evaluating the Performance of a Thermal Contact Sensor in Capturing Thermal Transients for Material Recognition via Heat Transfer," July 10 (Thu.) / 10:30-12:00, Convention Hall 1.
[ToH paper/Poster session] Hsin-Ni Ho, Takuya Jodai, Lynette Jones, and Masahiko Terao (2025) "Perceiving Synchrony: Determining Thermal-Tactile Simultaneity Windows," July 9 (Wed.) / 19:00~20:00, Lobby, 3F.
[Workshop] Hsin-Ni Ho (2025) "Enhancing Human Communication with Haptic Feedback," Speculating the Future(s) of Mediated Social Touch Technology" Workshop, July 8th (Tue.) / 13:30 – 17:30.
Prof. Kameoka will demo his newest work at World Haptics 2025:
[Demo session] Takayuki Kameoka, "A Wearable Haptic Module Providing Co-Located Suction and Thermal Feedback for Head-Mounted Displays," July 9, 2025, Convention Hall 3.
Oral presentation by Naoki Kameyama
Poster presentation by Takuya Jodai
Demonstration by Prof. Takayuki Kameoka
Workshop
Dr. Tony H.Y. Cheng from Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University visited our lab and gave a guest talk.
Tactile Field: An Empirical Hypothesis and Its Conceptual Implications
Abstract
Touch is a spatial sensory modality, but is it intrinsically spatial? How does its spatiality differ from the spatiality of nociception and of thermoception? In this talk, I will briefly review the relevant literature, and propose the “tactile field hypothesis,” according to which tactile fields as psychological constructs should be postulated to explain tactile pattern perception. After developing the hypothesis, I will distill some conceptual implications for other topics, such as Molyneux’s question, body ownership, and embodiment.
Place: Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan
Conference Website: https://conference.vrsj.org/ac2024/index.html
Ho Lab had two presentations this year, including collaborative outcomes with Junji Watanabe at the NTT Communication Science Laboratories (2).
1. 佐竹 茉莉花, ブラウニング アーロン マイケル, Hsin-Ni Ho (2024) "音・振動アイコンに対する感情反応の探求," 第29回日本バーチャルリアリティ学会大会. <PDF>
2. 桑島 理子, 渡邊 淳司, Ho Hsin-Ni (2024) "触覚による鼓動の知覚がバーチャルアバターの印象に与える影響の調査," 第29回日本バーチャルリアリティ学会大会. <PDF>
Ho Lab and Ishii Lab held the exhibition "An Immersive Experience through the Interaction of Visuals, Sound, and Vibration" at Open Campus 2024.
About 100 people experienced this new media technology and gave overwhelmingly positive feedback. This exhibition is based on the results of the 2024 class project "Media Design Project 1," where the students created a short film and designed the accompanying sound and vibration effects.
In this demonstration, vibrational speakers are attached to the viewer's abdomen and chest to act as vibrators, recreating sensations such as a pounding heartbeat caused by anxiety and fear, or a bullet passing through the abdomen. These vibrations synchronized with the visuals provide a more immersive video experience.
Dr. Hsin-I Chao from National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, visited our lab and demonstrated the art education materials she developed for visually impaired people.
Dr. Chao and I also visited the "Universal Museum: Exploring the View Field of Tactile Sensation" exhibition at Nogata Tanio Art Museum, Fukuoka, with the guide provided by the museum curator Yasuko Ichikawa san. This exhibition showcases interactive art pieces that explore the possibilities of touch through various themes such as "Touching History," "Touching Landscapes," and "Touching Sound," using diverse materials and techniques.
Dr. Shao-Min (Sean) Hung from Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University visited our lab and gave a guest talk.
Title: Is consciousness required to integrate crossmodal information?
Abstract
In this talk, I will focus on some of my work showing implicit multisensory processes. I will show that the congruency between sound-shape mapping can be processed even when the visual stimulus is invisible. Furthermore, I will show that semantics, extracted from the unrecognizable words in the visual periphery, affect the audio-visual rabbit illusions. Together, these studies suggest that multisensory integration can occur in the absence of visual awareness.
Place: Lille, France
Conference Website: https://eurohaptics.org/ehc2024/
University News (JP): https://www.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp/topics/23354/
University News (En): https://www.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/topics/23355/
Ho Lab had three oral presentations this year, including collaborative outcomes with Kajimoto Lab at the University of Electro-Communications, Japan (2), and Tim Moesgen at Aalto University, Finland (3). The paper with Tim Moesgen received the "Best Paper: Honorable Mentions" award at the conference.
Naoki Kameyama, Hsin-Ni Ho (2024) "Analysis of Thermal Properties of Artificial Fingers for Recording Thermal Transients During Hand-Object Interactions," Eurohaptics 2024, Lille, France, June 30th-July 3rd, 2024.
Mizuki Hamaguchi, Hiroyuki Kajimoto and Hsin-Ni Ho (2024), "Exploring Mental Representations of Material Categories through a Thermal Display," Eurohaptics 2024, Lille, France, June 30th-July 3rd, 2024.
Tim Moesgen, Hsin-Ni Ho Yu Xiao (2024), "Apparent Thermal Motion on the Forearm," Eurohaptics 2024, Lille, France, June 30th-July 3rd, 2024. Best Paper: Honorable Mentions" Award
In this conference, Prof. Ho served as an Associate Editor of the science section for the program committee and the master's student Naoki Kameyama served as a student volunteer.
Naoki Kameyama
Mizuki Hamaguchi
Best Paper award - Honorable Metion with
Tim Moesgen
Student volunteers
Dr. Kakagu Komazaki from NTT Communication Science Laboratories and NTT Social Informatics Laboratories visited our lab as a guest lecturer for the "Advanced Virtual Reality" course. He delivered a lecture on vibrotactile feedback and demonstrated his latest work on touch sharing using vibrational feedback. The following day, he participated in our lab meeting, conducted a workshop on prototyping vibrational feedback, and engaged in an in-depth discussion with the students.
Advanced Virtual Reality Class
Ho Lab Meeting
Members of the Young Haptics Committee (触覚若手の会) visited our lab. Lab students presented their research and practiced their presentations, receiving feedback from the Young Haptics members, and fostering valuable exchanges. The Young Haptics members also introduced their research and demonstrations. For more details please refer to this blog entry.
Place: Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB), Taipei, Taiwan
Workshop Website: https://www.accupass.com/event/2312060403045977505490 (In Chinese)
This workshop is a collaborative outcome between scientist Hsin-Ni Ho and Neuroscience-based artist Yung An Wang. It is a collaborative outcome of the "Scientist X Artist Co-Creation Workshop" held on 2022.10.15.
The Pink Touchscopes workshop enables participants to record their tactile memories triggered by the social touch of a handshake using a specific method. The workshop guides participants to perceive temporal changes on the surface of the skin and internal sensory experiences beneath the skin and to consider the cognition inside and outside of the skin to explore the possibilities of constructing tactile knowledge. The process involves using various methods including tactile exercises, pressure-sensitive paper measurements, coding, and sharing, attempting to create a hybrid sensory record that differs from traditional science or purely sensory approaches.
Organizers: Coevolution Research Assembly
Funded by National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan
Workshop photos by Davey Lin and Yung An Wang
Time: 2023/07/10 13:30-17:00
Place: Delft, the Netherlands
Workshop Website: https://sites.google.com/view/hohapticslab/whc23_mcd
University News (JP): https://www.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp/topics/18602/
University News (En): https://www.design.kyushu-u.ac.jp/en/topics/18603/
The skin is our largest and most versatile sensory organ, capable of perceiving a wide range of sensations, from pain to pleasure. Multisensory cutaneous displays are emerging technologies that have the potential to revolutionize fields such as human-computer interaction, virtual reality, and robotics. By recreating and delivering rich cutaneous sensations, these displays open up new possibilities for sensory experiences. In this workshop, experts explored the opportunities and challenges of multisensory cutaneous displays through talks, demonstrations, and panel discussions. The participants learned about the science and hardware development behind these displays, as well as their practical applications.
Organizers:
LYNETTE JONES, Massachusetts Insitute of Technology
HSIN-NI HO, Kyushu University
Panelists:
ALLISON OKAMURA, Stanford University
PEDRO LOPES, University of Chicago
JIN RYONG KIM, University of Texas at Dallas
YASEMIN VARDAR, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
Time: 2023/04/23 9:00-17:00
Place: Hamburg, Gernamny
Workshop Website: https://smelltastetemperature.com
The “Experiencing Smell, Taste, and Temperature Interfaces” workshop addresses the burgeoning subfield of chemo- and thermo-sensory interfaces (smell, taste, and temperature) as well as their cultural contexts, usage, and resulting experiences. This one-day, in-person workshop will offer an interdisciplinary forum of discussion for academics and practitioners interested in leveraging these sensations.
Organizers:
Jas Brooks, University of Chicago
Alireza Bahremand, Arizona State University
Pedro Lopes, University of Chicago
Christy Spackman, Arizona State University
Judith Amores, Microsoft Research
Hsin-Ni Ho, Kyushu Univerisity
Masahiko Inami, University of Tokyo
Simon Niedenthal, Malmö University
A special lecture was held by Kazuaki Harada, one of the best-known automata artists in Japan, on January 17th, as part of the 'Creative Prototyping Exercise' course offered this year.
Kazuaki Harada, at the forefront of the field, is active in producing automata, conducting workshops, and producing exhibitions of automata around the world. He is currently the only Japanese artist to have his name in the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, the hall of fame of automata in the UK.
Kazuaki Harada conducted the following two workshops to share the techniques for generating ideas for automata design.
Workshop 1 - Rube Goldberg Machine Rube Goldberg Machine
An exercise in which students designed a chain-reaction mechanical device, which was first invented by the American cartoonist Rube Goldberg in the 1910s.
Workshop 2 - Automata
An exercise in which students touch and experience the mechanisms of automata and design their own automata.
Time: 2022/11/17 10:30-12:00
Place: Design Common 2F, Ohashi Campus, Kyushu Univerisity
Organizers:
International Office, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University
Time: 2022/10/15 14:00-16:00
Place: Online
Panelist:
Hsin-Ni Ho, Associate Professor, Kyushu Univerisity
Yung An Wang, Neuroscience-based Artist
Organizers:
Coevolution Research Assembly
National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan