Abstract:
A perennial challenge when rendering a virtual surface with an impedance-type haptic interface is making the surface feel hard without destroying its realism, since simpl...View moreMetadata
Abstract:
A perennial challenge when rendering a virtual surface with an impedance-type haptic interface is making the surface feel hard without destroying its realism, since simply increasing its stiffness can lead to instability. One way to increase the perceived hardness without increasing stiffness is to implement a braking pulse or other high-frequency haptic contact event. Traditionally, such events are implemented as a force along the surface normal, which may leave some of the actuators of the haptic device underutilized. We propose a hybrid force-moment braking pulse, which includes a nonrealistic rendered moment to exploit a haptic illusion. We describe how to implement such a hybrid force-moment braking pulse in general, considering the saturation of the haptic device's actuators. In a human-subject study, we find that a virtual surface rendered with these hybrid force-moment braking pulses is perceived as harder than the same virtual surface rendered with a traditional braking pulse, without harming the surface's realism, for the majority of users. The moment-based haptic illusion also has the potential to be superimposed on other types of haptic contact events to improve the perceived hardness.
Published in: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters ( Volume: 5, Issue: 3, July 2020)