Haptic Space: The Effect of a Rigid Hand Representation on Presence when Interacting with Passive Haptics Controls in VR.

Many virtual reality (VR) applications rely on passive haptics where virtual objects have a real counterpart that provides tactile feedback. In addition to that, many VR applications do not provide accurate hand representations, especially when there is a high chance of occlusion as this makes vision-based tracking problematic. Hence, we investigated how a simple hand representation affects user experience and presence when interacting with passive haptic controls in a virtual environment. We report on a between-subject user study where N = 45 participants experienced one of three conditions (no hands at all, hands represented as a rigid 3D model, and hands represented as a rigid 3D model with a snapping mechanism). Our results indicate that a simple hand representation using a 3D model of hands paired with a snapping mechanism significantly increases presence and user experience. That indicates that this simple and low-cost technique is effective to improve the VE as a whole. This, in return, provides a chance for improvement for many VR applications with passive haptics.