Developing a Theoretical Framework on Intimacy with Technology
The final dataset consists of 133 semi-structured interviews with people who have been using Natural Cycles for at least 6 months, and whom when contacted were using Natural Cycles in Birth Control mode. The participants were aged between 20 and 50, with a mean age of 32. While we emphasised in our recruitment messages an interest in speaking to users of Natural Cycles from different gender identities, all participants recruited to this study reported that they were born female and identified as women. In addition, the majority were cohabiting with a partner (59) and considered themselves heterosexual (103). Analysis of this dataset is ongoing.
Developing Data and Materials for Designing Touch from Technology
Understanding how to touch well
We have undertaken a qualitative study with five healthcare experts specialised in different types of touch practice to gain insight in how caring touch can be enacted. We worked with each participant over three sessions: first, a semi-structured interview to better understand their touch practice, second, a 'touch session' where members of the researcher team experienced the 'touch' of the practitioner, and documented the force profile through a bespoke, prototype wearable force sensor. We learnt about the importance of a progression of touch and how this can be developed through dynamic sensitivity and through adapting touch to touch the plural dimensions of the body's textures (bone, skin and muscle). This focus on different ways of touches the different textures of the body is novel and will be inspirational for Task 2b.
Exploring Existing and Cutting Edge Haptics Devices
We have conducted a systematic review of the literature to discover cutting-edge technologies that enable different haptic sensations on the human. The review covered 188 works which were categorised into groups based on various haptic actions and sensations, such as squeezing, poking, pressing, vibrating, hugging, pinching, rubbing, dragging, as well as other interactions including thermo-tactile and electrical stimulations. The review concludes that most current research in haptic actuation devices has focussed on producing functional touches, intending to create specific types of deformation of the human body. As such, this research are largely neglects to explore the sensual experience of the touch during both the design and experimentation processes.
Developing Demonstrators of Intimate Touch
The Pelvic Chair - Over the last two years we have worked extensively to turn the Pelvic Chair into an automated ‘intimate touch’ experience. We have achieved this through the application of a customised pneumatic control system so that the inflation and deflation of each air pocket is programmable. We have conducted a user study with 14 participants who experienced the touches from the Pelvic Chair over one to two sessions. Our analysis shows that the touches initiated by the Pelvic Chair were considered intimate, safe and gentle, yet non-sexual. The Pelvic Chair was neither thought of as human-like nor machine-like.
