About the KATIB

The KATIB (writer in Arabis) is a handwriting assisting platform that provides contactless kinesthetic feedback by utilizing magnetic force, in addition to audio-visual feedback. An XY-stage carrying a vertically moving magnet is located underneath a touchscreen visual display. The stage naturally follows the handwriting stroke provided by the touchscreen display and automatically corrects from path deviations.  The KATIB project has passed through various stages of hardware development. Initially, the handwriting stylus was mechanically attached to a Novint Falcon haptic device. In its second generation, the stylus was detached and controlled by a magnet which was placed at the end effector of a parallel manipulator underneath the writing surface. In the current version, the parallel manipulator is replaced by a cartesian robot to increase the working space while maintaining the accuracy and speed of guidance.

We proposed novel kinesthetic guidance methods, namely proactive and retroactive guidance, to physically guide the handwriting stylus along a desirable trajectory based on position control. In proactive guidance (or full guidance), the magnet leads the movement while the user follows the trajectory. In retroactive guidance (partial guidance), the user performs the handwriting task and only when a significant deviation between the current and the expected position of the stylus is detected, the magnet is activated to provide corrective force feedback.  

Individuals Involved

1. Georgios Korres

2. Wanjoo Park

3. Mohamad Eid

Publications

• Korres, G., Park, W., & Eid, M. (2021). Contactless Kinesthetic Feedback to Support Handwriting Using Magnetic Force. IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

• Park, W., Babushkin, V., Tahir, S., & Eid, M. (2021). Haptic Guidance to Support Handwriting for Children with Learning Difficulties. IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

• Korres, G., & Eid, M. (2020, September). KATIB: Haptic-Visual Guidance for Handwriting. In International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications (pp. 279-287). Springer, Cham.

• Park, W., Korres, G., Moonesinghe, T., & Eid, M. (2019). Investigating haptic guidance methods for teaching children handwriting skills. IEEE transactions on haptics, 12(4), 461-469.

• Teranishi, A., Korres, G., Park, W., & Eid, M. (2018). Combining full and partial haptic guidance improves handwriting skills development. IEEE transactions on haptics, 11(4), 509-517.