Creating Illusion of Wind Blowing with Air Vortex-induced Apparent Tactile Motion

Enhancing a user's sense of presence and immersion with haptic technologies has recently been getting increasing attention in virtual reality (VR). Yet while several devices that use wind as a haptic modality have been proposed, it is difficult to precisely and quickly control the stimulation of the wind. In this study, we tackle creating an illusion of wind blowing with multiple air cannons that provides clear and low-latency tactile sensations in a specific area. Although air cannons are limited to providing short one-time stimuli, we propose a method for creating a sense of wind blowing with air cannons based on the perception of apparent tactile motion (ATM). We conducted an experiment with 12 participants to investigate the occurrence of the wind blowing sensation and the optimal parameters for it using three air cannons that were placed to hit three parts on the face. Finally, based on the results, we have exhibited a demonstration of the wind-blowing illusion with three air cannons. It created a sense that virtual objects passed in front of the participants by synchronizing with the sound source movement.