A multi-threaded approach for deformable/rigid contacts with haptic feedback

This paper presents a physically based method to deal with haptic feedback of manipulated deformable virtual objects in contact with rigid or deformable environment. The haptic rendering algorithm is based on the Signorini´s formulation of the contact as proposed in theoretical mechanics. Since haptic interaction requires high refresh rates, a multi-threaded methodology, sharing configuration values of the contact, ensures good stability and transparency performances. Thus, the interactive simulation gathers three synchronized process: the visualization process, the deformation/contact computation process, and the haptic rendering process.