HapticBots: Distributed Encountered-type Haptics for VR with Multiple Shape-changing Mobile Robots

TL;DR

HapticBots presents a scalable, deployable system of shape-changing robots on a tabletop that enhances VR haptic interactions by supporting multiple touch points and dynamic surface rendering for diverse applications.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel distributed encountered-type haptic system using mobile shape-changing robots, improving deployability, scalability, and interaction capabilities in VR environments.

Findings

Supports multiple concurrent touch points over large areas

Enables realistic surface rendering and object manipulation in VR

Demonstrates applications in remote collaboration, education, and gaming

Abstract

HapticBots introduces a novel encountered-type haptic approach for Virtual Reality (VR) based on multiple tabletop-size shape-changing robots. These robots move on a tabletop and change their height and orientation to haptically render various surfaces and objects on-demand. Compared to previous encountered-type haptic approaches like shape displays or robotic arms, our proposed approach has an advantage in deployability, scalability, and generalizability -- these robots can be easily deployed due to their compact form factor. They can support multiple concurrent touch points in a large area thanks to the distributed nature of the robots. We propose and evaluate a novel set of interactions enabled by these robots which include: 1) rendering haptics for VR objects by providing just-in-time touch-points on the user's hand, 2) simulating continuous surfaces with the concurrent height and position change, and 3) enabling the user to pick up and move VR objects through graspable proxy objects. Finally, we demonstrate HapticBots with various applications, including remote collaboration, education and training, design and 3D modeling, and gaming and entertainment.