Martin-Rodriguez Ruben, Ratschat Alexandre L, Marchal-Crespo Laura, Vardar Yasemin
IEEE Trans Haptics. 2025 Jan-Mar;18(1):93-109. doi: 10.1109/TOH.2024.3453894. Epub 2025 Mar 21.
Haptic rendering of weight plays an essential role in naturalistic object interaction in virtual environments. While kinesthetic devices have traditionally been used for this aim by applying forces on the limbs, tactile interfaces acting on the skin have recently offered potential solutions to enhance or substitute kinesthetic ones. Here, we aim to provide an in-depth overview and comparison of existing tactile weight rendering approaches. We categorized these approaches based on their type of stimulation into asymmetric vibration and skin stretch, further divided according to the working mechanism of the devices. Then, we compared these approaches using various criteria, including physical, mechanical, and perceptual characteristics of the reported devices. We found that asymmetric vibration devices have the smallest form factor, while skin stretch devices relying on the motion of flat surfaces, belts, or tactors present numerous mechanical and perceptual advantages for scenarios requiring more accurate weight rendering. Finally, we discussed the selection of the proposed categorization of devices together with the limitations and opportunities for future research. We hope this study guides the development and use of tactile interfaces to achieve a more naturalistic object interaction and manipulation in virtual environments.
在虚拟环境中，重量的触觉渲染在自然主义物体交互中起着至关重要的作用。传统上，动觉设备通过对肢体施加力来实现这一目的，而作用于皮肤的触觉接口最近为增强或替代动觉设备提供了潜在的解决方案。在此，我们旨在对现有的触觉重量渲染方法进行深入概述和比较。我们根据刺激类型将这些方法分为不对称振动和皮肤拉伸两类，并根据设备的工作机制进一步细分。然后，我们使用各种标准对这些方法进行比较，包括所报道设备的物理、机械和感知特性。我们发现，不对称振动设备的外形尺寸最小，而依靠平面、皮带或触觉器运动的皮肤拉伸设备在需要更精确重量渲染的场景中具有许多机械和感知优势。最后，我们讨论了所提议的设备分类的选择以及未来研究的局限性和机遇。我们希望这项研究能够指导触觉接口的开发和使用，以在虚拟环境中实现更自然主义的物体交互和操作。
