Push-Ups: Enhancing Kinesthetic Experience with Shape-Forming Devices on the Feet Soles

 

 
We present Push-Ups, a pair of pneumatic shoes capable of outputting motions to users’ feet soles via the shape-forming shoe bases. The work explores kinesthetic force feedback on feet for enhancing foot-related experiences in virtual reality. In this project, this motion output assists users’ kinesthetic experience in a virtual ski experience, an earthquake simulator, and a naughty button application.
 
Push-Ups shoes are made with pneumatic muscles in the base, allowing users to present 10 shape patterns and thus 10 different motion outputs. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and performance of Push-Ups. The first study with 12 participants reported that users achieved an overall 95% recognition rate on the motion outputs solely based on the perception in feet.
 
In the second study, we evaluated the system on a ski experience, and user ratings from 12 participants showed that users perceived significantly higher enjoyment and realism with reduced motion sickness with the force feedback that Push-Ups presented.