The Enactive Torch

Here you will find some general information about the Enactive Torch.

A Brief History of the Enactive Torch

Tom Froese and Adam Spiers met in 2000 while studying in the Department of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, UK. For his undergraduate degree (BSc in Cybernetics) Adam Spiers developed the Haptic Torch. This earlier version of the Enactive Torch was completed by 2003, and was successfully tested on blind subjects who were able to use it to navigate novel environments in a reliable and non-intrusive manner. 

After graduating from the University of Reading in 2004, Tom got interested in enactive cognitive science while studying for a PhD in Cognitive Science at the University of Sussex. One focus of this research was the enactive approach to perception, which appeals to the results of work done with sensory substitution technology as empirical support for its hypothesis that perception consists in perceptually guided, embodied action.

Then in early 2007 Tom and Ad decided to pool their resources by adapting the Haptic Torch in order to do experiments in terms of the enactive approach to perception. A new haptic device, the Enactive Torch, was designed especially for this purpose.

The Enactive Torch

The Enactive Torch provides the user with one continuous channel of vibro-tactile feedback to the hand, where the strength of stimulation depends on the distance to the object which is currently pointed at. The distance is measured using an ultrasonic sensor.

Depending on the particular hardware implementation the Enactive Torch also contains a servo-motor and audio hardware to which the output may be routed if the researcher desires.