Towards Tangible Cultural Heritage Experiences -- Enriching VR-Based Object Inspection with Haptic Feedback

TL;DR

This paper enhances VR-based cultural heritage object inspection by integrating haptic feedback through 3D printed replicas, improving user interaction and assessment of digital artifacts.

Contribution

It introduces a system combining high-quality 3D models with haptic feedback via 3D printed replicas for immersive, collaborative VR object inspection.

Findings

Improved user interaction and assessment in VR environments.

System supports streaming of detailed 3D models with reflectance data.

User study indicates enhanced experience with haptic feedback.

Abstract

VR/AR technology is a key enabler for new ways of immersively experiencing cultural heritage artifacts based on their virtual counterparts obtained from a digitization process. In this paper, we focus on enriching VR-based object inspection by additional haptic feedback, thereby creating tangible cultural heritage experiences. For this purpose, we present an approach for interactive and collaborative VR-based object inspection and annotation. Our system supports high-quality 3D models with accurate reflectance characteristics while additionally providing haptic feedback regarding the object shape features based on a 3D printed replica. The digital object model in terms of a printable representation of the geometry as well as reflectance characteristics are stored in a compact and streamable representation on a central server, which streams the data to remotely connected users/clients. The latter can jointly perform an interactive inspection of the object in VR with additional haptic feedback through the 3D printed replica. Evaluations regarding system performance, visual quality of the considered models as well as insights from a user study indicate an improved interaction, assessment and experience of the considered objects.