Sensole: An Insole-Based Tickle Tactile Interface

Abstract

This is Sensole, a tactile interface using the foot especially the plantar as an input channel. It deals with sensory substitution according to the fact, that the feet are highly represented areas in the human brain. The use of solenoids offers an exciting but also more pleasant experience than vibrotactile components. Application scenarios of the design could be the recreation of a sense, for example a sense for radioactivity or magnetism as well as complex eyes-free navigation scenarios. Because it is a multi-actuator, it opens the broad field of combinatorics and thus greater accuracy and versatility for the presentation of information which is useful in so far as it allows to be an interface for various smartphone applications. Sensole is a decent interface and can be integrated in every regular shoe.