We present a contribution in the field of Tangible User Interfaces (TUI)
a TUI that performs autonomous behavior as an independent social entity, not only a TUI that is being manipulated by the user
We define and compare two paradigms for user interaction with the autonomous TUI
Turn-taking paradigm, in which the user and system manipulate the same interface in separate turns
vs. Joint paradigm, in which the user and system manipulate the same interface together
at the same time, sharing the control over the interface
Our findings reveal that all participants perceived the interaction with the TUI as a social experience
Turn-taking was interpreted as a competitive experience, while Joint was interpreted as a collaborative experience
The two paradigms also differed in participants' sense of control and intensity of emotions
Our work shows that it is possible to design tangible interfaces that act as social entities
merging the social aspects of a robot with the tool-like aspects of a tangible interface
In the last two decades, researchers have been exploring autonomous processes in tangible and shape changing interfaces
We contextualize our work within Rasmussen’s framework of “shared control", specifically the “negotiated control" type
in which the user and system negotiate the control over the shared interface
We extend this framework with the two interaction paradigms: Turn-taking-actuation
which is an asynchronous shared control and Joint-actuation which is a synchronous shared control
We invite our research students to present the study
Previous studies explored tangible interfaces shape-changing interfaces and human-robot interaction
Previous turn taking-actuation works include the Actuated Workbench
the Planar Manipulator Display, Reactile, Morphees, and Aerial tunes These works indicated that Turn-taking-actuation is helpful
These works indicated that Turn-taking-actuation is helpful, can increase curiosity and is perceived as a fun and engaging interaction
Previous Joint-actuation works include PICO, the Tangible Active Objects, in-Form, and LineForm
all introducing synchronous interaction, challenging users' sense of control
A few works within the HRI field include user interaction with a non-humanoid robot and an additional physical interface
The interface can be manipulated both by the user and the robot in turn-taking interaction
Studies showed the interaction was perceived as a social experience
To test the two interaction paradigms, we extended our existing prototype with letter-sensing, word-evaluation, and autonomous word-completion
In Turn-taking-actuation we used a WoZ interface to set words based on a word database
In Joint-actuation the letter-sensing sensed the user manipulation of letters, then the word-evaluator verified it’s a valid word
and the autonomous word-completion completed the word using the same word database
We conducted a within-participants study with 23 participants, comparing the experience in the two interaction paradigms
We conducted qualitative interviews of each experience, and also a concluding interview comparing the two experiences
Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic coding
All participants perceived the interaction with the actuated interface as a social experience, with clear differentiation
Turn-taking-actuation was experienced as competition
While Joint-actuation was experienced as collaboration
Regarding sense of control, When experiencing turn-taking, participants felt in control
However, when experiencing joint-actuation participants' sense of control was challenged
Many participants expressed a need for adaptive control
“It should recognize when I encounter difficulty, and also release its control when I resist"
To conclude we defined and compared two "shared control" interaction paradigms
We showed that both paradigms are perceived as different social experiences turn-taking as competition, and joint-actuation as collaboration
In addition, Joint-actuation challenged users' sense of control and led to more intense emotions
Our work shows that autonomous Tangible Interfaces can be perceived as social entities
merging the social aspects of a robot with the tool-like aspects of a tangible interface
Thank you very much for watching and please check out our paper