Development and Evaluation of a Wearable Force Display "HapticGEAR" for Immersive Projection Displays

Abstract

In this paper, we describe the design and the implementation ofa force display for immersive projection displays such as CAVE or CABIN. To give the user maximum freedom of motion in a large virtual space, it is necessary to use a portable force display that is grounded on the user's body. Various nonportable force displays have been developed, but their workspace is small and restricted. Therefore, we developed a portable (wearable) force display called HapticGEAR which makes use of the tension of wires grounded on the user's back. HapticGEAR is designed to have fewer effects on the user's motion and to maximize output force in user's workspace. Finally, we evaluated this device through the basic experiments in CABIN.