Designing interaction in virtual worlds through a passive haptic peripheral

This paper presents a prototype of a hands-on immersive peripheral device for controlling a virtual hand with high dexterity. Based on the results of users´ tests on previous versions of our device and on the analysis of a manipulation task, this prototype is as easy as a mouse to use and allows the control of a high number of degrees of freedom (dofs) with tactile feedback. Design issues, physical phenomena and physiological behaviors are tightly linked and highly influence interaction. The goals corresponding to these issues include the choice of sensors´ technology and their position on the device, low efforts exerted while using the device, relevant multi-sensorial feedback, performance of achieved tasks. An example of a grasping task illustrates the effectiveness of our device to achieve intuitive and efficient interactions, bringing new insights for collaborative interaction.