Wednesday 29 April 2020

Virtual reality users 'touch and feel objects' thanks to engineering innovation

Although companies have previously built tools to bring the sensation of touch to VR, the devices have struggled to realistically reproduce the feel of objects and have used too much energy, said researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pennsylvania.

Now, thanks to some engineering innovation, the team has built a device capable of simulating the feel of obstacles and heavy objects. The 'what is the difference between computer science and computer engineering' system uses multiple strings attached to the hand and fingers – by locking the strings when the user's hand is near a virtual wall, for instance, the device simulates the sense of touching the wall.

Similarly, the string mechanism lets people feel the contours of a virtual sculpture, sense resistance when they push on a piece of furniture or even give a high five to a virtual character.

The shoulder-mounted device uses spring-loaded strings to reportedly reduce weight, consume less battery power and keep costs low.

“Elements such as walls, furniture and virtual characters are key to building immersive virtual worlds, and yet contemporary VR systems do little more than vibrate hand controllers,” said research co-author Chris Harrison, assistant professor at the CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute. User evaluation of the multistring device reportedly found it was more realistic than other haptic techniques.

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