A Tangible 3D Desktop Environment with Force Feedback

In recent yeas various 3D desktop environments have been developed. They don´t, however, become a popular interaction method in HCI (human computer interface) research field. Restrictions in 3D operations using a mouse are the major reason. The mouse is inappropriate for manipulating objects in a 3D task space. Users have difficulties for adequately managing the mouse in 3D object manipulations. In this paper, we propose to replace the mouse by a haptic device, an interaction device enabling easy object manipulations in the 3D task space. The haptic device also allows the users to touch the objects with depth perceptions and feel some tactile sensations. It can present some special effects like shocks, vibrations, and weights when they touch the object. We designed and developed a 3D operational environment where the desktop can be treated as a real world property by using the haptic device. We describe the implementation method and operational interface of the proposed new 3D desktop environment empowered by the haptic device and an experiment conducted for verifying the effectiveness of the proposed system.