Design of Shape-changing Haptic Interfaces Using Pneumatic Actuation for Virtual Reality

• Main Authors: Shan-Yuan Teng, 鄧善元
• Other Authors: 陳炳宇
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/z22ax7

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 資訊網路與多媒體研究所 === 106 === Feeling the shape when grasping an object in Virtual Reality (VR) enhances the sense of presence and the ease of object manipulation. Though most prior works focus on force feedback of fingers, haptic emulation of grasping 3D shape requires touch sensation of whole hand. Hence, we present Pop-up Prop on Palm (PuPoP), a light-weight pneumatic shape-proxy interface worn on palm that pops up several airbags with predefined primitive shapes for grasping. When a user''s hand encounters a virtual object, an airbag of appropriate shape would be inflated by air pumps ready for grasping; on the other hand, the airbag flattens when the object is dismissed. Since PuPoP is a physical prop, it can provide full sensation of touch to enhance realism for object manipulation. We first explored the design and implementation of PuPoP with multiple shape structures. We then conducted two user studies to further understand its applicability. The first study show that, when in conflict, visual sensation tends to dominate over touch sensation, allowing a prop with fixed size to represent multiple virtual objects with similar sizes. The second study compared PuPoP with controllers and free-hand manipulation in two VR applications. The results suggest that holding dynamically-changing PuPoP in line with the shapes of virtual objects enhances enjoyment and realism. We believe PuPoP is a simple yet effective way to convey haptic shapes in VR.