In-Hand Haptic Representation of User's Surroundings in Virtual Reality

Overview & Synopsis

The user's awareness of obstacles is essential for safe navigation in Virtual Reality (VR). In this paper, we propose to augment this user's spatial awareness using in-hand haptic feedback. Our approach consists of a multi-actuator haptic handle which acts as a physical representation of the users' surroundings in virtual environments, displaying directional haptic patterns to provide information in function of the user's motions and environment. We conducted a set of user studies to assess the perception of haptic patterns displayed by the handle, and users' ability to avoid dynamic obstacles in VR when the haptic handle is mounted on a joystick. We also evaluated the effect of the device on the perception of the user's personal space in VR. Results show that the proposed technique enables users to effectively avoid moving obstacles by modifying their trajectories. The in-hand haptic representation of the avatar was easily understood by participants, which is promising for future interaction techniques.