🤖 AI Summary
This study investigates how variations in kinesthetic resistance—specifically inertia, viscosity, and stiffness—in handheld VR controllers influence users’ multidimensional haptic perception of object physical properties. Addressing the limitation of prior work that relies on single quantitative metrics and overlooks perceptual complexity, we integrate qualitative interviews with semantic differential scales, employing thematic analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and quantitative modeling to systematically decouple impedance parameters from distinct haptic perception dimensions. Four core perceptual factors emerge: size, viscosity, weight, and flexibility. Based on these, we develop an interpretable “impedance–perception” mapping model grounded in empirical data. This work transcends conventional single-metric evaluation paradigms and provides cognitively informed design principles for programmable haptic rendering, advancing both theoretical understanding and practical implementation of physically grounded haptics in VR interfaces.
📝 Abstract
Haptics in virtual reality is the emerging dimension after audiovisual experiences. Researchers designed several handheld VR controllers to simulate haptic experiences in virtual reality environments. Some of these devices, equipped to deliver active force, can dynamically alter the timing and intensity of force feedback, potentially offering a wide array of haptic sensations. Past research primarily used a single index to evaluate how users perceive physical property parameters, potentially limiting the assessment to the designer's intended scope and neglecting other potential perceptual experiences. Therefore, this study evaluates not how much but how humans feel a physical property when stimuli are changed. We conducted interviews to investigate how people feel when a haptic device changes motion impedance. We used thematic analysis to abstract the results of the interviews and gain an understanding of how humans attribute force feedback to a phenomenon. We also generated a vocabulary from the themes obtained from the interviews and asked users to evaluate force feedback using the semantic difference method. A factor analysis was used to investigate how changing the basic elements of motion, such as inertia, viscosity, and stiffness of the motion system, affects haptic perception. As a result, we obtained four critical factors: size, viscosity, weight, and flexibility factor, and clarified the correspondence between these factors and the change of impedance.
