Low-cost VR Collaborative System equipped with Haptic Feedback

International audienceIn this paper, we present a low-cost virtual reality (VR) collaborative system equipped with a haptic feedback sensation system. This system is composed of a Kinect sensor for bodies and gestures detection, a microcontroller and vibrators to simulate outside interactions, and smartphone powered cardboard, all of this are put into a network implemented with Unity 3D game engine. CCS CONCEPTS • Interaction paradigms → Virtual reality; Collaborative interaction; • Hardware → Sensors and actuators; Wireless devices; KEYWORDS collaborative virtual reality, haptic feedback system

Haptic Foot Feedback for Kicking Training in Virtual Reality

As means to further supplement athletic performances increases, virtual reality is becoming helpful to sports in terms of cognitive training such as reaction, mentality, and game strategies. With the aid of haptic feedback, interaction with virtual objects increases by another dimension, in addition to the presence of visual and auditory feedback. This research presents an integrated system of a virtual reality environment, motion tracking system, and a haptic unit designed for the dorsal foot. The prototype simulates a scenario of virtual kicking and returns haptic response upon collision between the user’s foot and virtual object. The overall system was evaluated for its tracking accuracy and stimulation strength of the haptic devices. Our results will address the issues associated to yielding rich haptic sensation for the dorsal foot as well as the errors in tracking foot orientation. The study is currently on-going and preliminary results will be discussed

The value of haptic feedback in conventional and robot-assisted minimal invasive surgery and virtual reality training: a current review

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) as surgical training tool has become a state-of-the-art technique in training and teaching skills for minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Although intuitively appealing, the true benefits of haptic (VR training) platforms are unknown. Many questions about haptic feedback in the different areas of surgical skills (training) need to be answered before adding costly haptic feedback in VR simulation for MIS training. This study was designed to review the current status and value of haptic feedback in conventional and robot-assisted MIS and training by using virtual reality simulation. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was undertaken using PubMed and MEDLINE. The following search terms were used: Haptic feedback OR Haptics OR Force feedback AND/OR Minimal Invasive Surgery AND/OR Minimal Access Surgery AND/OR Robotics AND/OR Robotic Surgery AND/OR Endoscopic Surgery AND/OR Virtual Reality AND/OR Simulation OR Surgical Training/Education. RESULTS: The results were assessed according to level of evidence as reflected by the Oxford Centre of Evidence-based Medicine Levels of Evidence. CONCLUSIONS: In the current literature, no firm consensus exists on the importance of haptic feedback in performing minimally invasive surgery. Although the majority of the results show positive assessment of the benefits of force feedback, results are ambivalent and not unanimous on the subject. Benefits are least disputed when related to surgery using robotics, because there is no haptic feedback in currently used robotics. The addition of haptics is believed to reduce surgical errors resulting from a lack of it, especially in knot tying. Little research has been performed in the area of robot-assisted endoscopic surgical training, but results seem promising. Concerning VR training, results indicate that haptic feedback is important during the early phase of psychomotor skill acquisitio

Haptic Feedback Relocation from the Fingertips to the Wrist for Two-Finger Manipulation in Virtual Reality

Relocation of haptic feedback from the fingertips to the wrist has been considered as a way to enable haptic interaction with mixed reality virtual environments while leaving the fingers free for other tasks. We present a pair of wrist-worn tactile haptic devices and a virtual environment to study how various mappings between fingers and tactors affect task performance. The haptic feedback rendered to the wrist reflects the interaction forces occurring between a virtual object and virtual avatars controlled by the index finger and thumb. We performed a user study comparing four different finger-to-tactor haptic feedback mappings and one no-feedback condition as a control. We evaluated users' ability to perform a simple pick-and-place task via the metrics of task completion time, path length of the fingers and virtual cube, and magnitudes of normal and shear forces at the fingertips. We found that multiple mappings were effective, and there was a greater impact when visual cues were limited. We discuss the limitations of our approach and describe next steps toward multi-degree-of-freedom haptic rendering for wrist-worn devices to improve task performance in virtual environments.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, submitted and accepted to the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2022 Conferenc

Can wearable haptic devices foster the embodiment of virtual limbs?

Increasing presence is one of the primary goals of virtual reality research. A crucial aspect is that users are capable of distinguishing their self from the external virtual world. The hypothesis we investigate is that wearable haptics play an important role in the body experience and could thereby contribute to the immersion of the user in the virtual environment. A within-subject study (n=32) comparing the embodiment of a virtual hand with different implementations of haptic feedback (force feedback, vibrotactile feedback, and no haptic feedback) is presented. Participants wore a glove with haptic feedback devices at thumb and index finger. They were asked to put virtual cubes on a moving virtual target. Touching a virtual object caused vibrotactile-feedback, force-feedback or no feedback depending on the condition. These conditions were provided both synchronously and asynchronously. Embodiment was assessed quantitatively with the proprioceptive drift and subjectively via a questionnaire. Results show that haptic feedback significantly improves the subjective embodiment of a virtual hand and that force feedback leads to stronger responses to certain subscales of subjective embodiment. These outcomes are useful guidelines for wearable haptic designer and represent a basis for further research concerning human body experience, in reality, and in virtual environments

No Strings Attached: Force and Vibrotactile Feedback in a Guitar Simulation

In this paper we propose a multisensory simulation of plucking guitar strings in virtual reality. The auditory feedback is generated by a physics-based simulation of guitar strings, and haptic feedback is provided by a combination of high fidelity vibrotactile actuators and a Phantom Omni haptic device. Moreover, we present a user study (n=29) exploring the perceived realism of the simulation and the relative importance of force and vibrotactile feedback for creating a realistic experience of plucking virtual strings. The study compares four conditions: no haptic feedback, vibrotactile feedback, force feedback, and a combination of force and vibrotactile feedback. The results indicate that the combination of vibrotactile and force feedback eliits the most realistic experience, and during this condition, the participants were less likely to inadvertently hit strings after the intended string had been plucked. Notably, no statistically significant differences were found between the conditions involving either vibrotactile or force feedback, which points towards an indication that haptic feedback is important but does not need to be high fidelity in order to enhance the quality of the experience