Area-contact haptic simulation

Abstract

This paper presents the haptic interaction method when the interaction occurs at several points simultaneously. In many virtual training systems that interact with a virtual object, the haptic: interface is modeled as a point. However, in the real world, the portion interacting with real material is not a point but rather multiple points, i.e., an area. In this paper, we address an area-based haptic rendering technique that enables the user to distinguish hard regions from softer ones by providing the distributed reflected force and the sensation of rotation at the boundary. We have used a shape retaining chain linked model that is suitable for real-time applications in order to develop a fast area-based volume haptic rendering method for volumetric objects. We experimented with homogeneous and non-homogeneous virtual objects consisting of 421,875 (75x75x75) volume elements.