Events Calendar

CS Colloquium: Melisa Orta Martinez (Stanford University) - Design and Analysis of Open-Source Educational Haptic Devices

Speaker: Melisa Orta Martinez, Stanford University

Talk Title: Design and Analysis of Open-Source Educational Haptic Devices

Series: CS Colloquium

Abstract: The sense of touch (haptics) is an active perceptual system used from our earliest days to discover the world around us. However, formal education is not designed to take advantage of this sensory modality. As a result, very little is known about the effects of using haptics in K-12 and higher education or the requirements for haptic devices for educational applications. This talk will present three novel, open-source, low-cost haptic devices for educational applications and discuss some general principles for designing such devices. The first device, Hapkit is a one-degree-of-freedom kinesthetic device that has been used in several education environments, where we have discovered the potential of haptics to display abstract mathematical concepts and observed the importance of device customization for the students. The second, Haplink, introduces a novel mechanism that enables the device to transform between a one- and two-degree-of-freedom haptic device in order to enable additive learning. The third device, HapCaps is a tactile haptic device that was developed to study the connection between finger perception and math learning in young children. The aim is to design haptic devices that can be used in several educational environments in order to understand the role of haptics in learning.

This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.

Biography: Melisa Orta Martinez received the BS degree in electronic systems engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico City, during which she spent a year working as a research intern at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute, Paderborn, Germany. She then obtained a MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, CA. After her masters degree she worked at Apple Inc. for three years in the Human Interface Devices group. She is currently working toward the doctoral degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford University. Her research interests include haptics, robotics and education.

Host: Heather Culbertson

Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Assistant to CS chair