(Haplos was developed as part of the CogNovo doctoral program at the University of Plymouth in collaboration with Kin Design, Curiosity Design Research, and SEADS, and primarily supported by the Marie Curie Initial Training Network, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN, grant number 604764.)

Inspired by somatic methodologies and neurophysiology, Haplós is a low-cost, wearable technology that increases body awareness by applying vibrotactile patterns to the skin, can be incorporated in existing clothing and implements, and can be programmed and activated remotely. Through carefully designed patterns of vibrotactile stimulation, Haplós aims to elicit self-reports of heightened body awareness as well as pleasure by supplying the user with higher resolution information of an area of their body in order to increase its somatosensory cortical representation.

Haplós applies programmable, vibrotactile patterns to the skin using small, vibrating motors. It is inspired by research and design in clothing and human-computer interaction, in which clothing and wearable artifacts generate novel, embodied, somatic experiences. Unlike many contemporary digital technologies for the body, Haplós was invented with the aim not of replacing or augmenting the human senses, but of enhancing our existing sensory abilities, particularly our ability to sense ourselves.

The heart of the hardware and textile component of Haplós is a set of brushless vibration motors on which male snap fasteners are affixed. These motors can be attached to female snap fasteners sewn onto a piece of ribbon, allowing for easy repositioning, unlike in most vibrotactile garments. The ribbon can then be attached to a wide variety of existing clothing and implements, and formed into any shape. The motors are powered by a battery pack and controlled by a wirelessly-controlled microcontroller. Haplós can thus be controlled and reprogrammed over a local network or even the Internet.

The Haplós software is best described in terms of the graphical user interface (GUI) used to control the motors. The prototype uses a step sequencer (akin to those used in music synthesizing tools) to compose tactile patterns. The GUI can be run on desktop and mobile devices. Tempo and motor intensity can be controlled from the GUI. Users can generate and send patterns on the fly, as well as save and play previously saved patterns. A single instance of the GUI can control multiple Haplós devices and mass broadcast the patterns.

Haplós was designed by translating the principles of a body therapeutic and educational system—the Feldenkrais Method—into a piece of wearable technology that was originally invented to enhance body awareness. The design of the technology was further motivated by research in neuroscience, kinesiology, and experimental psychology suggesting that vibrotactile stimulation can facilitate a range of different effects on an individual’s soft tissues and central nervous system. These effects include changes in muscle tone, suppler fascia, pain relief, improved motor skill, and relaxation.

Haplós is theorized to increase body awareness by developing more detailed representations of the body in the somatosensory cortex through the systematic application of pleasant vibrotactile stimuli, using motors that are spaced just below the two-point tactile discrimination threshold. Previous research has suggested that vibrotactile stimulation can expand cortical representations of stimulated body surfaces. Building on and inspired by this work, Haplós applies carefully designed patterns of vibrotactile stimulation to the skin in such a way as to supply a subject with higher resolution information of an area of their body, with the aim of increasing the somatosensory cortical representation of that part of themselves. To do so, motors are first spaced on a user’s body just at the threshold of two-point tactile discrimination threshold. Once placed on the user’s skin, the motors play a sequence vibrotactile patterns via the mobile interface. The initial patterns are temporally and spatially simple, meaning that they are often rhythmically regular, repeating, and linear, in order to allow the user to anticipate where on their skin they might expect the vibrotatile stimuli to be applied. The patterns then become increasingly more complex, but are always repeated in order allow users to predict where the stimuli might be applied. Repetition is used as a teaching strategy. In this manner, complex vibrotactile stimuli applied to the subject become increasingly familiar. The ‘composition’ ends by decreasing in complexity until the initial, simpler patterns are played. Users who have experienced Haplós often report that the initial patterns feel clearer and more perceptible at the end than at the beginning of the composition.