M-Hair: Creating Novel Tactile Feedback by Augmenting the Body Hair to Respond to Magnetic Field

Abstract

In this paper, we present M-Hair, a novel method for providing tactile feedback by stimulating only the body hair without touching the skin. It works by applying passive magnetic materials to the body hair, which is actuated by external magnetic fields. Our user study suggested that the value of the M-hair mechanism is in inducing affective sensations such as pleasantness, rather than effectively discriminating features such as shape, size, and direction. This work invites future research to use this method in applications that induce emotional responses or affective states, and as a research tool for investigations of this novel sensation.