The virtual touch - Haptic interfaces in virtual environments

To meet the demands of complex VR applications state-of-the-art systems generate visual representations of virtual environments combined with acoustical feedback. But in some application areas, for example medicine or virtual prototyping, "seeing" and "hearing" is not sufficient. Thus, additional human perceptual channels have to be stimulated: the haptic senses. Current research at the Fraunhofer IGD addresses concepts for interface and integration of haptic displats into virtual environments. These are able to feedback reaction forces and tactile stimuli as well as temperature and motion to the user. Examples include training simulator for arthroscopy, and ThermoPad, a glove-like output device for thermal feedback based on Peltier technology. The additional feedback improves both the impression of reality and the capability to orientate oneself in virtual worlds. Further work addreses the integration of commercially available libraries and devices, namely the PHANTOM and a motion pla tform, within the VirtualDesignII (VDII), a VR-toolkit developed in-house.