A Physical-touch System that Gives Folders and Data Physicality to Increase the Perceptual Effect on a Computer

Abstract

: Today, many people use their own digital devices. One major example is computers. They are becoming smarter and store more functions, and the convenience has increased immensely. On the other hand, they are designed to be very unitary, and it is not possible for users to feel the operations and functions in a visual and experiential way. In this research, we assume that we can establish a new interaction with computers by "physical touch," by which we perceive objects experientially in reality without being clearly aware of it. In particular, we propose a system to change the “feel of files of a computer” in which a lot of documents are bundled. For example, the smoothness of the dragging movement changes depending on the amount of data in the file. Files with small amounts of data are set to be „light‟ and can be moved easily and quickly, while a file with a huge amount of data is „heavy‟. Even if the file is selected and dragged quickly on the interface, it cannot be moved at that speed, and it has to be moved slowly. This represents the weight and accompanying difficulty that comes along with the volume of actual paper documents, when holding them in reality. we reproduce this feature on a computer.