Soldiers work in an extreme and hostile environment, where their survival is dependent on an information advantage as well as on communication within in their own group and with other groups. Their communication is conducted in a surrounding where noise from weapons often overwhelms a voice and camouflage and uneven terrain diminishes the usability of visual contact methods as hand signals. Their ears and eyes are also used as the primary tool to detect any threat from a potential enemy and are therefore cognitively strained right from the beginning.
By introducing tactile perception as an alternative source of communication, we hope that the overall performance of a soldier can increase through decreasing the cognitive load they presently endure. Through the development and testing of a prototype for such a tactile interface thought to augment some of the present communicative ways, we have tried to answer the question if tactile information is usable within the military context.
Keywords
Tactile interfaces, comfort, prototyping, vibrotactile, display, Ubiquitous Computing, Calm Technology, Wearable Computers
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