Feelium: A Touchable Blimp Body for Aerial Telepresence

Abstract

Floating things invite touch. We present Feelium, a blimp-based telepresence platform that enables visual embodiment and touch interaction through its inflatable skin. Through a VR headset, a remote person inhabits the blimp, looking out of it first-person, appearing on its skin as a face or avatar, and steering it through the room. Partners in the room pat it, press a palm against it, draw on it, or lean into it; the skin senses each contact, renders it into the wearer's view in VR spaces. Touch thus provides a physical interaction channel for remote presence, turning the skin into a shared surface between remote and co-located partners.

arXiv comment3 pages, 2 figures. To appear in UIST Adjunct '26: The 39th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, November 2-5, 2026, Detroit, MI, USA