Palm-On Haptic Environment in Augmented Reality

K. Asai, H. Kobayashi, and N. Takase (Japan)

Keywords

Haptic environment, augmented reality, tangible user interface, multimodal interaction, and tactile visualization

Abstract

We developed a tangible interactive system augmented with vibrations to the hand, providing the users with a palm-on haptic augmented reality (AR) environment. Although forced-feedback devices have been used to simulate the convergent sense of touch with virtual objects, such devices cannot generally give us the multifaceted sense of touch such as a tactile sense to the whole hand. We used a vibro-tactile device (CyberTouch) in an AR environment to enhance tangible interaction with vibration to the hand, which was allowed to move within the length of the control cable. We used two approaches to present vibro-tactile information. The first was to activate actuators based on the spatial motion of a virtual object, and the second was based on the density inside the virtual object. We conducted a user study to assess the properties of the two approaches. The results revealed that the former could make users enjoy the movement of virtual objects and the latter enabled them to visualize the inside.

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