SleeveIO: Modular and Reconfigurable Platform for Multimodal Wearable Haptic Feedback Interactions

SleeveIO is a modular and reconfigurable hardware platform for rapid prototyping of multimodal wearable haptic feedback interactions. SleeveIO features engineered machine-knitted sleeve and band substrates, and five categories of haptic feedback actuator modules including vibrotactors, bellows, muscles, suction/puffing cups, and quad-chamber actuators. A universal magnetic attachment mechanism unifies the different types of actuators, enabling countless multimodal haptic experiences involving combinations of different actuator types in different configurations. SleeveIO is compatible with a variety of hardware/software control platforms, such as FlowIO [42], which enables individual control of each haptic actuator and makes the system battery-powered and untethered. This paper presents the SleeveIO platform in detail along with replication resources, a novel generalized approach to making different types of haptic actuators modular and interoperable, new application possibilities enabled by SleeveIO, and a pilot assessment of the viability of the platform as a whole and each module individually.