Generating Kinesthetic Feedback Using Self Contact and Velocity Scaling

Despite the considerable technological progress of haptic technology in recent years, to date there are still no wearable systems capable of providing both kinesthetic and cutaneous feedback that are universally recognized and adopted outside the research contexts. This is particularly evident when dealing with virtual reality, where the lack of truthful tactile feedback has often been addressed by exploiting Pseudo-Haptics methods. Being designed to indirectly stimulate the somatosensory system, these methods are not meant to be integrated with haptic devices. With the idea of providing a meeting point between the haptic and pseudo-haptic fields, this work proposes Self Contact: exploiting the pseudo-haptic principles to lead the user in generating a real kinesthetic feedback through the contact between his/her fingers. Self Contact can be implemented alone or in combination with haptic thimbles, allowing to complete the set of tactile stimuli that is necessary for a realistic interaction with virtual objects in pick and place operations. A step-wise validation demonstrated that the proposed approach is suitable for recovering the kines-thetic feedback into virtual reality, towards the development of increasingly immersive environments.