We’ve so many issues combating for our consideration lately. Between our emails, textual content messages, smartphone and smartwatch notifications, and all the things else competing for our eyeballs, it’s straightforward to develop alert fatigue. If all the things is handled as necessary, then in some unspecified time in the future, nothing will likely be extra necessary than anything. These incessant distractions finally cut back consumer engagement and hinder our means to successfully reply to actual emergencies. The vibrations or audible tones of a notification merely fade into the background and go unnoticed or deliberately ignored.
In an effort to interrupt the monotony and recapture our consideration when crucial, researchers on the Université Grenoble Alpes in France have been experimenting with a brand new sort of notification system. Specializing in smartwatches initially, the crew is exploring how gentle, shape-changing surfaces would possibly be capable of higher seize our consideration than conventional strategies that are actually generally in use. Their method includes the usage of a novel floor on the again of a watch that may morph into completely different shapes to supply us with alerts through tactile sensations. Their hope was that any such stimulation may be extra more likely to be observed and acted upon, even when we’re feeling alert fatigue.
The watch is being loosely worn to exhibit actuation (📷: Z. Fan et al.)
To create the prototype system, the crew used a stereolithography 3D printer to make a watch-like object with a gentle again that may be deformed when inflated with air. The watch case and bracelet have been printed in a resin materials, whereas the shape-changing air chamber was printed with a silicone materials. When deflated, the backing is as skinny as three millimeters. A set of three 12 volt two-way peristaltic air pumps (positioned exterior to the watch) have been used for actuation of the notification system.
In a sequence of experiments, contributors examined two completely different designs of shape-changing wrist interfaces to find out absolutely the threshold at which they discover the haptic suggestions. The impartial variable was the design of the air channels that management the curvature of the watch’s floor. Design R had dense and evenly spaced air channels, resulting in a flatter curvature at 12 psi. Design P had air channels extra spaced on the edges and nearer collectively on the middle, producing a pointier curvature on the identical strain. Curvatures have been examined within the vary of 1 to 13 psi, with important variations between the 2 designs rising at 10 to 13 psi.
Members wore the bracelet, which was securely fitted to their wrists utilizing a sizing mannequin primarily based on wrist circumference, and half of the contributors began with Design R, whereas the opposite half started with Design P. Dependent variables included whether or not contributors observed the stimulus, their preferences, and subjective detectability of the curvatures, measured by way of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews.
The experimental setup (📷: Z. Fan et al.)
The experiment outcomes revealed that absolutely the detection threshold (ADT) for each the flat-to-round (R) and flat-to-pointy (P) surfaces was low, indicating that contributors have been delicate to the shape-changing stimuli. The ADT for the R floor was 3.49 psi, whereas the P floor had a barely larger ADT at 4.22 psi, however the distinction between the 2 was minimal. Members rated each designs as impartial in usability however discovered them considerably constructive by way of stimulation high quality. Qualitative suggestions highlighted that contributors discovered the feeling nice, describing it as “easy” and “soothing.”
The outcomes point out that this new method could have some benefits over current alert mechanisms, however earlier than it may be deployed, the inflation system must be made rather more compact and sensible. After which the query arises — if any such alert turns into frequent, will it simply fade into the background like the remaining?
