The Natural Interactive Walking Project and Emergence of Its Results in Research on Rhythmic Walking Interaction and the Role of Footsteps in Affecting Body Ownership

In this chapter we describe how the results of the Natural Interactive
Project, which was funded within the 7th Framework Programme and ended in
2011, started several research directions concerning the role of auditory and haptic feedback in footstep simulations. We chose elements of the project which are interesting in a broader context of interactive walking with audio and haptic feedback to present and discuss the developed systems for gait analysis and feedback presentation, but also, what is even more interesting to show how it influence humans behavior and perception. We hope also to open a discussion on why we actually can manipulate our behavior and show the importance of explaining it from the neurological perspective. We start with a general introduction, moving on to more specific parts of the project, that are followed by the results of the research which were conducted after project’s termination but based on its results.