Abstract
We introduce Haplets, a wearable, low-encumbrance, finger-worn, wireless haptic device that provides vibrotactile feedback for hand tracking applications in virtual and augmented reality. Haplets are small enough to fit on the back of the fingers and fingernails while leaving the fingertips free for interacting with real-world objects. Through robust physically-simulated hands and low-latency wireless communication, Haplets can render haptic feedback in the form of impacts and textures, and supplements the experience with pseudo-haptic illusions. When used in conjunction with handheld tools, such as a pen, Haplets provide haptic feedback for otherwise passive tools in virtual reality, such as for emulating friction and pressure-sensitivity. We present the design and engineering for the hardware for Haplets, as well as the software framework for haptic rendering. As an example use case, we present a user study in which Haplets are used to improve the line width accuracy of a pressure-sensitive pen in a virtual reality drawing task. We also demonstrate Haplets used during manipulation of objects and during a painting and sculpting scenario in virtual reality. Haplets, at the very least, can be used as a prototyping platform for haptic feedback in virtual reality.
Highlights
Hands can be considered the most dexterous tool that a human naturally possesses, making them the most obvious input modality for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)
We can observe that participants can rely on the haptic feedback for guidance and draw lines that are closer to the guide’s thickness, with an mean error across subjects of 1.58 mm with haptic feedback and 2.68 mm without haptic feedback
The human hand can sense much more than simple vibrations such as the sensation of shear force, normal force, and temperature. We address this shortcoming by introducing believable visuals in the form of physics-driven hands, and make up for the lack of force rendering by introducing passive haptic feedback in the form of tools
Summary
Hands can be considered the most dexterous tool that a human naturally possesses, making them the most obvious input modality for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). A major limitation is the lack of haptic feedback that leads to a poor experience in scenarios that require manual dexterity such as object manipulation, drawing, writing, and typing on a virtual keyboard (Gupta et al, 2020). Haptic gloves seem promising for rendering a realistic sense of touch and textures, or provide kinesthetic impedance in the virtual or augmented space, wearing a glove that covers the fingers greatly reduces the tactile information from physical objects outside the augmented space. Having a solution that provides believable haptic feedback with the lowest encumbrance is desirable
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