In the team RAINBOW, we are studying innovative systems for the haptic interaction with virtual reality systems. Among the different available haptic interfaces, those featuring vibrotactile sensations are more and more popular for interactions in VR, as they enable the rendering of interacting with objects having different properties. However, as of today, there does not exist an algorithm formalization that generates (vibrotactile) haptic feedback from a given virtual environment.
This thesis will address the design, development, and evaluation of new coupling schemes for vibrotactile haptic feedback during interaction in VR.
The project will proceed by developing four main key aspects:
- study the perceptual relevance of different cutaneous sensations with respect to object properties in AR/MR;
- formalize an algorithmic approach for coupling vibro-tactile devices with virtual environments;
- design interaction techniques exploiting the capabilities of vibrotactile (wearable) interfaces to address the most relevant physical properties of virtual objects, taking into account the known limitations of the proposed system, e.g., under-actuation, limited range of stimulation.
- develop use cases rendering the shape, stiffness, and texture of virtual objects through different types of vibrotactile haptic interfaces, considering both wearable and non-wearable solutions.
- evaluate the performance and user experience of the proposed rendering approach on human subjects and representative virtual applications, e.g., medical training, industrial simulation.
[1] de Tinguy, X., Howard, T., Pacchierotti, C., Marchal, M., & Lécuyer, A. (2020, September). Weatavix: wearable actuated tangibles for virtual reality experiences. In International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications (pp. 262-270). Springer, Cham.
[2] Salazar, S. V., Pacchierotti, C., de Tinguy, X., Maciel, A., & Marchal, M. (2020). Altering the stiffness, friction, and shape perception of tangible objects in virtual reality using wearable haptics. IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 13(1), 167-174.
[3] Nukarinen, T., Kangas, J., Rantala, J., Pakkanen, T., & Raisamo, R. (2018, November). Hands-free vibrotactile feedback for object selection tasks in virtual reality. In Proceedings of the 24th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (pp. 1-2).
[4] Kreimeier, J., Hammer, S., Friedmann, D., Karg, P., Bühner, C., Bankel, L., & Götzelmann, T. (2019, June). Evaluation of different types of haptic feedback influencing the task-based presence and performance in virtual reality. In Proceedings of the 12th ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments (pp. 289-298).
[5] Wang, B., & Rau, P. L. P. (2019, July). Effect of vibrotactile feedback on simulator sickness, performance, and user satisfaction with virtual reality glasses. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 291-302). Springer, Cham.
[6] Valkov, D., & Linsen, L. (2019, March). Vibro-tactile feedback for real-world awareness in immersive virtual environments. In 2019 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) (pp. 340-349). IEEE.