The latest Enactive Torch prototype (ET3) was unveiled at the e-sense workshop held at the end of March. 

This version of the Enactive torch features live data streaming over Bluetooth which allows an experimenter to remotely observe and record a participant’s use of the torch. ET3 is also much more robust than the last prototype in a number of ways and many successful efforts have been made to reduce noise throughout the device. As in ET2 a number of distance / stimulation profiles are implemented in the device which can be easily selected during the experiment. The device also has lower power consumption so uses fewer batteries than the last Enactive Torch prototype (over the course of the entire workshop the torch showed no signs of running low on power).

ET3 meets all the technical goals that were originally proposed at the start of work on the Enactive Torch. Once the design of this torch has been finalised into a production-ready version, we hope to be able to start making enactive torches on demand for laboratories that wish to use the device in their research.

The third-generation prototype of the Enactive Torch will be demonstrated at the upcoming Key Issues in Sensory Augmentation Workshop to be held at the University of Sussex, March 26-27, 2009. This event will bring together some of the best researchers in the field of sensory augmentation technology in a mixture of talks, seminars, and practical sessions.

The application deadline for participation at the workshop is Friday, the 20th of February.

For more information about this event, please click here.

The Enactive Torch is being featured in ‘Ad!dict Inspiration’ book #29: ‘in.tangiable.scape.s’

Here is the blurb: Addictlab’s 29th Inspiration book comes out next week! Called In.Tangible.Scape.s, it’s about emerging technologies and the vision of creative people from all over the world on that topic. Supported by IMEC, and collaborations from MOMA NY, Design Incubator centre Singapore, Domus Academy Italy, and many more…

Cover of Ad!dict #27

The article refers to Tom’s presentation of the Enactive Torch at Test.Lab Multimodal in Rotterdam last Feburary.

The book can be previewed here, the Enactive Torch article is on page 69 of the book (page 71 of the electronic preview).

An extended abstract on some of the philosophical aspects of using the Enactive Torch has been accepted for a talk at this year’s Workshop on Philosophy and Engineering (WPE-2008) to be held in London.

Engineering Conceptual Change: The Enactive Torch

R. Chrisley, T. Froese & A. Spiers

In the Philosophy and Engineering community, there is general agreement that interaction between the two fields can be mutually beneficial. However, there are distinctive ways in which engineering can play a crucial role in assisting the particular case of philosophy of mind, especially concerning our understanding of conscious experience and perception. The reciprocal design/use cycle of certain kinds of experience-augmenting technologies can facilitate the kind of conceptual advance that is necessary for progress toward a scientific account of consciousness, a kind of advance that is not possible to induce, it is argued, through traditional discursive, rhetorical and argumentative means. We present an example of engineering activity that plays this crucial role in informing philosophical research in the PAICS group at the University of Sussex: the design and use of a novel sensory substitution device (the Enactive Torch) as a means of inducing in the user new philosophical concepts of perceptual experience.

The full extended abstract can be downloaded from here.

The latest work with the Enactive Torch is now in press for this year’s Enactive Interfaces conference in Pisa, Italy. A PDF copy of the paper can be downloaded here.

—

Investigating the role of movement in the constitution of spatial perception using the Enactive Torch

L. Grespan, T. Froese, E. A. Di Paolo, A. K. Seth, A. Spiers and W. Bigge

This paper reports an exploratory study designed to clarify whether the Enactive Torch, a custom-built minimalist distance-to-tactile perceptual supplementation device, can be used to investigate the role of embodied action in the perception of external spatiality. By constraining the kind of exploratory movements available to the participants, we create an experimental setup in which it is possible to study the relationship between bodily degrees of freedom and spatial perception. We present a preliminary investigation of the strategies used by minimally trained participants to locate various objects placed in front of them by engaging in active exploration under constrained conditions.

The first and second prototype of the Enactive Torch were demonstrated at this weekend’s Workshop on Enactive Approaches to Social Cognition in Battle, UK. This was the first opportunity to explore the effects of participants interacting with each other via this device.

Whether it is possible to use several Enactive Torches in order to conduct a scientific study of the dynamics of perceptual crossing still requires further investigation, though it seems plausible that when two Torches cross they significantly boost each others signal.

Here are some pictures from the workshop demonstration:

Interacting with the Enactive Torches

Experimenting with perceptual crossing

More news coming soon!

Tom

Following some very interesting experiments using the 2nd Enactive Torch prototype (ET2) in a constrained movement scenario (see image below) we are now (already) back to work designing and building the third generation of Enactive Torch (ET3). These recent experiments investigated some interesting propositions in cognitive science while also highlighting areas for improvement in ET2.

With each successive generation of Enactive Torch we are getting closer to something that can be disseminated to the research community for their own evaluation and work. ET3 takes a large step towards this goal and aims to have the flexibility of a truley useful research tool while also being a robust teaching aids that can be handed to students.

Constrained movement experiment with ET2

The most recent prototype of the Enactive Torch (nicknamed ET2) is nearing completion and will soon be evaluated through a study on perception (to be carried out at the University of Sussex).

The new device includes some more advanced features to extend its functionality as a research instrument and is particularly geared towards generating rich, easily accessable experimental data for real-time capture.

The current prototype of the Enactive Torch is finally back at Sussex University after completing a little world tour that took it from the WPF2008 in Basel, Switzerland, through the 3rd Ratna Ling Conference on First-Person Methods in California, to the Towards a Science of Consciousness Conference in Tucson, Arizona and back through Mexico to the UK.

Presentation of the Enactive Torch at these events was generally a success with extensive amounts of people being able to try out the device for themselves. Indeed, one of the most striking outcomes of these demonstrations is how easy it is for people to start using the Torch for navigational tasks and even start getting a sense of felt presence of external spatiality through their exploratory actions.

It also worth mentioning that Claire Petitmengin was kind enough to sacrifice some of her time at Ratna Ling to use her interview technique in order to debrief me on my experience of using the Enactive Torch. In particular we focused on the experience of what it is like to use the device in order to explore and attempt to recognize an object while blindfolded. I recorded most of this interview session such that I will be able to transcribe and analyze it in more detail. Many thanks to Claire for helping us to get this phenomenological part of the project underway!

Finally, I’m also happy to report that Ad has been keeping himself busy with working on the next prototype of the Enactive Torch, which will incorporate some more advanced features, especially in terms of data capture. This will enable us to start some psychological experiments this summer.

Pictures of some of these recent events should also be available soon!

A complete video of the Test_Lab event, including all presentations, has been put online on this site

Tom’s presentation about the Enactive Torch starts at 2:04:40. To go directly to the video stream click here