Abstract
Manipulation of hand-held objects in Virtual Reality (VR) requires input
tracking with high freedom of movement, as well as haptic feedback of
hand-object interactions. Through our prototypes we demonstrate a
pragmatic approach to haptic feedback on controllers that render human
scale forces. Our devices manifest haptic simulation of compliance,
texture, surface normals, sizes, weights, and kinematic forces. These
are brought to bear on hand-object interaction primitives such as
palpation, manipulation, grasping, squeezing, cutaneous touch, stable
grip, dexterity, and precision manipulation, which are collected as a
taxonomy and represent a layer between the inherent haptic properties of
the objects and the hand interaction of the operator. We implement
prototypes that simulate the functional affordances of each of these
aspects, and characterize their performance in human perception studies.
Our work offers a model of hand-object interactions that goes beyond
force rendering on a finger-by-finger basis (as typical of hand
exoskeletons and gloves).