Surface perception in a large workspace encounter interface

Haptic interaction with virtual objects is typically tool mediated, or in alternative it constraints userpsilas body in someway, like it happens in exoskeletons that cannot be totally transparent. Encounter type haptic interfaces aim at hands free haptic interaction, that is more natural and can be applied in contexts in which the user moves in the space around the interface. This paper presents a system that allows a palm based haptic interaction in a large workspace using the principle of encountered haptics. The system is evaluated in a surface exploration task and compared against the same task performed with a standard haptic interface. In this type of task this type of interface is better suited, providing a smoother feedback to the hand during the movement over the surface.