Pseudo-haptics Occurrence during Swimming Motion in a Virtual Reality Environment

Abstract

In this study, the creation of pseudo-haptics during swimming in a virtual reality (VR) space was examined. For this purpose, the user can swim in the VR space, to visualize spheres floating around them in the water. The spheres move from the front of the user to the rear as the user perform a breaststroke. Perception of the movement of these spheres can create the sensation of swimming against the flow of water. Thus, the developed system presents pseudo-haptics by controlling the amount of movement of these spheres. Four types of presentation methods were experimentally examined and compared, and their effects were verified by a psychophysical method. The results suggested that the sensation during pseudo-haptics can be finely separated into different levels by generating a constant fluid force against the user.