Tactical Telehaptic Communication (HAPTAC)

The goal for our research is to devise effective haptic information delivery with minimal training. To do this requires engaging pre-existing haptic perceptual capabilities. It is unrealistic to expect that large numbers of Soldiers will train for hundreds of hours to master a complex haptic information display, particularly, if its use would capture most of their attention in battlefield situations. From this perspective, the challenge of the proposed work is to identify a set of haptic patterns that are of the greatest value to the soldier, and which can be readily perceived without time-consuming training and without cognitive loading. Certainly the soldier must not perceive the haptic information to interfere with concentration on critical tasks: Rather, it should assist in the effective performance of tasks.