Publication
Ambient Living Media as Haptic Proxy Interfaces for Virtual Reality
Donald Degraen; Marc Schubhan; Felix Kosmalla; André Zenner; Florian Daiber
In: Workshop on Everyday Proxy Objects for Virtual Reality at CHI'21. Workshop on Everyday Proxy Objects for Virtual Reality (EPO4VR-2021), located at ACM International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI-2021), May 8, Yokohama/Virtual, Japan, ACM, 5/2021.
Abstract
As ubiquitous members of our environment, plants live in their own timeline as silent, prevalent lifeforms. Interest is growing in understanding them as active beings rather than overlooked objects. In research towards empathetic living media, both real and artificial plants have been engaged as ambient notification interfaces. In this position paper, we put forward the notion of utilizing the living environment around us as haptic interfaces for immersive virtual environments. While different types of plants provide varying types of haptic feedback, they are mostly self-sustaining and ensure a degree of aesthetic integration within their environment. To present our idea, we shortly review established literature on empathic living media in the context of ambient interfaces and propose discussion points to further research in the area of living media as haptic proxy interfaces.