Haptic-GeoZui3D: Exploring the Use of Haptics in AUV Path Planning

We have developed a desktop virtual reality system that we call Haptic-GeoZui3D, which brings together 3D user interaction and visualization to provide a compelling environment for AUV path planning. A key component in our system is the PHANTOM haptic device (SensAble Technologies, Inc.), which affords a sense of touch and force feedback – haptics – to provide cues and constraints to guide the user’s interaction. This paper describes our system, and how we use haptics to significantly augment our ability to lay out a vehicle path. We show how our system works well for quickly defining simple waypoint-towaypoint (e.g. transit) path segments, and illustrate how it could be used in specifying more complex, highly segmented (e.g. lawnmower survey) paths

Haptic Interface for Center of Workspace Interaction

We build upon a new interaction style for 3D interfaces, called the center of workspace interaction. This style of interaction is defined with respect to a central fixed point in 3D space, conceptually within arm\u27s length of the user. For demonstration, we show a haptically enabled fish tank VR that utilizes a set of interaction widgets to support rapid navigation within a large virtual space. The fish tank VR refers to the creation of a small but high quality virtual reality that combines a number of technologies, such as head-tracking and stereo glasses, to their mutual advantag

Haptically assisted connection procedure for the reconstruction of dendritic spines

Dendritic spines are thin protrusions that cover the dendritic surface of numerous neurons in the brain and whose function seems to play a key role in neural circuits. The correct segmentation of those structures is difficult due to their small size and the resulting spines can appear incomplete. This paper presents a four-step procedure for the complete reconstruction of dendritic spines. The haptically driven procedure is intended to work as an image processing stage before the automatic segmentation step giving the final representation of the dendritic spines. The procedure is designed to allow both the navigation and the volume image editing to be carried out using a haptic device. A use case employing our procedure together with a commercial software package for the segmentation stage is illustrated. Finally, the haptic editing is evaluated in two experiments; the first experiment concerns the benefits of the force feedback and the second checks the suitability of the use of a haptic device as input. In both cases, the results shows that the procedure improves the editing accuracy

Real-time hybrid cutting with dynamic fluid visualization for virtual surgery

It is widely accepted that a reform in medical teaching must be made to meet today's high volume training requirements. Virtual simulation offers a potential method of providing such trainings and some current medical training simulations integrate haptic and visual feedback to enhance procedure learning. The purpose of this project is to explore the capability of Virtual Reality (VR) technology to develop a training simulator for surgical cutting and bleeding in a general surgery

Proxy chain method and its application to scientific visualization

Journal ArticleWe present a method for combining multiple point-based constraints in haptic programming environments. Instead of using a single proxy point for haptic feedback, the method maintains a separate proxy for each constraint. The reaction force is computed by linking the proxies in a chain. Constraints are applied in sequential order, such that the proxy found in the current step becomes the probe for the next step in the chain. The advantage of the method over previous approaches is that the constraints are maintained precisely and the output is well-defined. We illustrate the method with examples from the domain of 3D scientific data visualization. Finally, we present the results of an experiment conducted to quantify the contribution of haptic guidance in two representative vector field exploration tasks

Haptic Interaction with 3D oriented point clouds on the GPU

Real-time point-based rendering and interaction with virtual objects is gaining popularity and importance as di�erent haptic devices and technologies increasingly provide the basis for realistic interaction. Haptic Interaction is being used for a wide range of applications such as medical training, remote robot operators, tactile displays and video games. Virtual object visualization and interaction using haptic devices is the main focus; this process involves several steps such as: Data Acquisition, Graphic Rendering, Haptic Interaction and Data Modi�cation. This work presents a framework for Haptic Interaction using the GPU as a hardware accelerator, and includes an approach for enabling the modi�cation of data during interaction. The results demonstrate the limits and capabilities of these techniques in the context of volume rendering for haptic applications. Also, the use of dynamic parallelism as a technique to scale the number of threads needed from the accelerator according to the interaction requirements is studied allowing the editing of data sets of up to one million points at interactive haptic frame rates

Advancing proxy-based haptic feedback in virtual reality

This thesis advances haptic feedback for Virtual Reality (VR). Our work is guided by Sutherland's 1965 vision of the ultimate display, which calls for VR systems to control the existence of matter. To push towards this vision, we build upon proxy-based haptic feedback, a technique characterized by the use of passive tangible props. The goal of this thesis is to tackle the central drawback of this approach, namely, its inflexibility, which yet hinders it to fulfill the vision of the ultimate display. Guided by four research questions, we first showcase the applicability of proxy-based VR haptics by employing the technique for data exploration. We then extend the VR system's control over users' haptic impressions in three steps. First, we contribute the class of Dynamic Passive Haptic Feedback (DPHF) alongside two novel concepts for conveying kinesthetic properties, like virtual weight and shape, through weight-shifting and drag-changing proxies. Conceptually orthogonal to this, we study how visual-haptic illusions can be leveraged to unnoticeably redirect the user's hand when reaching towards props. Here, we contribute a novel perception-inspired algorithm for Body Warping-based Hand Redirection (HR), an open-source framework for HR, and psychophysical insights. The thesis concludes by proving that the combination of DPHF and HR can outperform the individual techniques in terms of the achievable flexibility of the proxy-based haptic feedback.Diese Arbeit widmet sich haptischem Feedback für Virtual Reality (VR) und ist inspiriert von Sutherlands Vision des ultimativen Displays, welche VR-Systemen die Fähigkeit zuschreibt, Materie kontrollieren zu können. Um dieser Vision näher zu kommen, baut die Arbeit auf dem Konzept proxy-basierter Haptik auf, bei der haptische Eindrücke durch anfassbare Requisiten vermittelt werden. Ziel ist es, diesem Ansatz die für die Realisierung eines ultimativen Displays nötige Flexibilität zu verleihen. Dazu bearbeiten wir vier Forschungsfragen und zeigen zunächst die Anwendbarkeit proxy-basierter Haptik durch den Einsatz der Technik zur Datenexploration. Anschließend untersuchen wir in drei Schritten, wie VR-Systeme mehr Kontrolle über haptische Eindrücke von Nutzern erhalten können. Hierzu stellen wir Dynamic Passive Haptic Feedback (DPHF) vor, sowie zwei Verfahren, die kinästhetische Eindrücke wie virtuelles Gewicht und Form durch Gewichtsverlagerung und Veränderung des Luftwiderstandes von Requisiten vermitteln. Zusätzlich untersuchen wir, wie visuell-haptische Illusionen die Hand des Nutzers beim Greifen nach Requisiten unbemerkt umlenken können. Dabei stellen wir einen neuen Algorithmus zur Body Warping-based Hand Redirection (HR), ein Open-Source-Framework, sowie psychophysische Erkenntnisse vor. Abschließend zeigen wir, dass die Kombination von DPHF und HR proxy-basierte Haptik noch flexibler machen kann, als es die einzelnen Techniken alleine können