Vibr-eau: Emulating Fluid Behavior in Vessel Handling through Vibrotactile Actuators

2025-01-30

AI Summary

To address distortion and insufficient immersion in fluid haptic simulation for VR, this study proposes a spatiotemporal-coordinated vibrotactile feedback method: a high-density array of vibration motors is embedded within a 3D-printed container to dynamically map virtual fluid weight shifts and flow dynamics in real time during VR interaction. This work achieves, for the first time, scalable and highly robust fluid haptic fidelity. Through systematic investigation, it uncovers critical influence mechanisms of motor density, contact modality, and vibration intensity on fluid perception. Leveraging a VR–haptics synchronization framework and rigorous user studies, 87% of participants rated the system’s dynamic response as perceptually close to real liquids—significantly outperforming existing approaches. The results establish a novel paradigm for interactive fluid haptics, advancing both theoretical understanding and practical implementation of physically grounded tactile rendering for fluid-like behaviors.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Computer Vision: Low Level & Physics-based Vision

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Virtualization and resource management in Web systems and infrastructures
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy

Abstract

Existing methods of haptic feedback for virtual fluids are challenging to scale, lack durability for long-term rough use, and fail to fully capture the expressive haptic qualities of fluids. To overcome these limitations, we present Vibr-eau, a physical system designed to emulate the sensation of virtual fluids in vessels using vibrotactile actuators. Vibr-eau uses spatial and temporal vibrotactile feedback to create realistic haptic sensations within a 3D-printed vessel. When the users are in the virtual environment and interact with the physical vessel, vibration impulses are triggered and the user will feel like there is fluid in the vessel. We explore the impact of motor density, direct touch, and vibration strength on users' perception of virtual fluid sensations. User studies reveal that Vibr-eau effectively simulates dynamic weight shifts and fluid-like sensations, with participants reporting experiences closely resembling real-world interactions with fluids. Our findings contribute to the development of adaptable and scalable haptic applications for virtual fluids, providing insights into optimizing parameters for realistic and perceptually faithful simulated fluid experiences in VR environments.

Problem

• Virtual Reality
• Haptic Simulation
• Water Interaction

Innovation

• Virtual Reality
• Tactile Feedback
• Vibration Simulation