Grasping VR: Presence of Pseudo-Haptic Interface Based Portable Hand Grip System in Immersive Virtual Reality

ABSTRACT

This study proposes a pseudo-haptic interface optimized for a novel portable hand grip haptic system, providing simple and realistic interfaces in various situations using the hand grips of users in immersive virtual reality. The proposed haptic system accurately determines the force of the user grip through an Arduino-based system design using portable low-cost electromyography (EMG) sensors. Using this system, a visual illusion-based pseudo-haptic interface is designed to maximize presence in virtual reality. This involves processes that use a grasping illusion to enable the user to quickly become familiar with the system when tactile sensation is excluded, which maximizes immersion. Based on this process, an immersive virtual reality application is produced to survey and analyze user presence for the provided hand grip. Finally, the positive experience and improved presence for hand grip in immersive virtual reality are statistically analyzed and verified through user surveys.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (2017R1D1A1B03035576, NRF-2017R1A2B2005380, NRF-2019R1A2C1008244) for Changhun Kim. Also, this research was financially supported by Hansung University for Jinmo Kim.

Notes on contributors

Mingyu Kim

Mingyu Kim is in the master’s course of the program in Visual Information Processing at Korea University. His research interests include computer graphics and virtual reality.

Jinmo Kim

Jinmo Kim is an assistant professor of Division of Computer Engineering, Hansung University. From 2014 to 2019, he was an assistant professor at the Department of Software, Catholic University of Pusan. He received B.E. degree in Multimedia Engineering from Dongguk University in 2006 and his M.E. & Ph.D. degrees in Multimedia from Dongguk University in 2008, 2012 respectively. His research interests include computer graphics and virtual reality.

Kisung Jeong

Kisung Jeong has the master degree of the program in Visual Information Processing at Korea University in 2019. His research interests include computer graphics and virtual reality.

Changhun Kim

Changhun Kim is a professor of Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Korea University. His current research interests include fluid animation and mesh processing and virtual reality. He is also a member of IEEE Computer Society and ACM.