Rhythm'n'Shoes: a Wearable Foot Tapping Interface with Audio-Tactile Feedback

Stefano Papetti, Marco Civolani, and Federico Fontana

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

A shoe-based interface is presented, which enables users toplay percussive virtual instruments by tapping their feet.The wearable interface consists of a pair of sandals equippedwith four force sensors and four actuators affording audiotactile feedback. The sensors provide data via wireless transmission to a host computer, where they are processed andmapped to a physics-based sound synthesis engine. Sincethe system provides OSC and MIDI compatibility, alternative electronic instruments can be used as well. The audiosignals are then sent back wirelessly to audio-tactile excitersembedded in the sandals' sole, and optionally to headphonesand external loudspeakers. The round-trip wireless communication only introduces very small latency, thus guaranteeing coherence and unity in the multimodal percept andallowing tight timing while playing.

Citation:

Stefano Papetti, Marco Civolani, and Federico Fontana. 2011. Rhythm'n'Shoes: a Wearable Foot Tapping Interface with Audio-Tactile Feedback. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1178129

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{Papetti2011,
 abstract = {A shoe-based interface is presented, which enables users toplay percussive virtual instruments by tapping their feet.The wearable interface consists of a pair of sandals equippedwith four force sensors and four actuators affording audiotactile feedback. The sensors provide data via wireless transmission to a host computer, where they are processed andmapped to a physics-based sound synthesis engine. Sincethe system provides OSC and MIDI compatibility, alternative electronic instruments can be used as well. The audiosignals are then sent back wirelessly to audio-tactile excitersembedded in the sandals' sole, and optionally to headphonesand external loudspeakers. The round-trip wireless communication only introduces very small latency, thus guaranteeing coherence and unity in the multimodal percept andallowing tight timing while playing.},
 address = {Oslo, Norway},
 author = {Papetti, Stefano and Civolani, Marco and Fontana, Federico},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1178129},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 keywords = {interface, audio, tactile, foot tapping, embodiment, footwear, wireless, wearable, mobile },
 pages = {473--476},
 title = {Rhythm'n'Shoes: a Wearable Foot Tapping Interface with Audio-Tactile Feedback},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2011/nime2011_473.pdf},
 year = {2011}
}