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Non-Contact Thermal Haptics for VR

Published: 08 October 2023 Publication History

Abstract

In the realm of virtual reality (VR), haptic feedback plays a pivotal role in enhancing user immersion. However, the implementation of non-contact thermal haptics presents numerous challenges. In this study, we introduce a novel approach for creating thermal haptic feedback in a VR environment, combining an ultrasonic phased array with a heating circuit. Our design generates multiple beams that deliver heated air to the user, thus simulating the sensation of temperature change. This approach enables an immersive, responsive VR experience that dynamically adjusts the temperature of the surrounding air based on the VR content. The innovation resides in our method’s ability to overcome traditional phased array limitations, such as grating lobes and high hardware costs, by leveraging the directionality of ultrasonic transducers within the array. This results in a more cost-effective, compact, and efficient thermal haptic feedback system. Our work thus offers a significant contribution to the field of VR, presenting a new way of enhancing user immersion through non-contact thermal haptics.

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Cited By

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  • (2024)ThermoGrasp: Enabling Localized Thermal Feedback on Fingers for Precision Grasps in Virtual RealityProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36765268:MHCI(1-21)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2024
  • (2024)Hydroptical Thermal Feedback: Spatial Thermal Feedback Using Visible Lights and WaterProceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3654777.3676453(1-19)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024

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cover image ACM Conferences
UbiComp/ISWC '23 Adjunct: Adjunct Proceedings of the 2023 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing & the 2023 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing
October 2023
822 pages
ISBN:9798400702006
DOI:10.1145/3594739
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Published: 08 October 2023

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Author Tags

  1. non-contact
  2. temperature
  3. thermal haptic
  4. virtual reality

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Overall Acceptance Rate 764 of 2,912 submissions, 26%

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View all
  • (2024)ThermoGrasp: Enabling Localized Thermal Feedback on Fingers for Precision Grasps in Virtual RealityProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36765268:MHCI(1-21)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2024
  • (2024)Hydroptical Thermal Feedback: Spatial Thermal Feedback Using Visible Lights and WaterProceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3654777.3676453(1-19)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024

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