Design of an Immersive Peripheral for Object Grasping

Abstract

During product development processes, simulations involving user's grasping operations are of increasing interest to incorporate more quantitative information in DFA (Design For Assembly) or immersive simulations. We present several prototypes of an immersive peripheral device for controlling a virtual hand with fine dexterity. These prototypes are derived from the analysis of a grasping action to define the structure and main features of this device. The prototypes, as easy to manipulate as a computer mouse, enable the simultaneous control of a large number of degrees of freedom (dofs). The design issues, where physical phenomena, physiological behavior and device structure are all tightly combined and significantly influence the overall interaction, are reviewed. These issues include the generation of dofs, monitoring kinematics, force reduction during virtual hand and finger movements, and the influence of device design, sensor types and their placement on the interaction and on the range of configurations that can be achieved for grasping tasks, dexterity, and performance. Examples of grasping tasks show the effect of these immersive devices to reach user-friendly and efficient interactions with objects bringing new insight to the interaction with virtual products.

Designing interaction in virtual worlds through a passive haptic peripheral

“…We present an extension of the HandNavigator described in [1]. Especially, validation tests of the existing prototypes are conducted by several users on grasping tasks scenarii, leading to the design of a new requirements of the HandNavigator with a more ergonomic shape, sensors allowing better dexterity and interactions, while integrating tactile feedback for an enhanced immersion, which is not the case in [1].…”

“…The HandNavigator consists in two major components: a 3D mouse SpaceNavigator 1 and, on top, a housing where sensors for fingers are located. The prototypes presented in [1] use either pressure sensors, trackballs, or scrollpads (see Fig. 2).…”

“…2). We refer the reader to [1] for a detailed description of the SpaceNavigator and the different versions of the HandNavigator. We call these prototypes V2, V3t, and V3s respectively, according to their chronology.…”

“…The pressure sensor aims at giving the sensation to the user that he really grasps a virtual object and it is active only while the user is holding it. Indeed, the pressure sensor has a lower sensitivity than the other sensors we incorporated [1], as the user must apply higher forces (1N) than to the SpaceNavigator (0.4N) to activate it. Through this intrinsic characteristic, the user has to apply a significant force, similar to a configuration he encounters when holding tight a real object.…”

“…Manipulating an object is conditioned by the number and the quality of information returned to the brain. This paper presents an extension of the HandNavigator, an immersive peripheral for controlling a virtual hand in virtual environments [1] for precise object manipulation.…”