Assessment of haptics-based interaction for assembly tasks in virtual reality

This paper investigates the benefits of haptics-based interaction for performing assembly-related tasks in a virtual environment. The research examines the context in which haptic feedback affects user performance and identifies assembly operations that are influenced. Forty participants completed three experiments relevant to virtual assembly: weight discrimination, part positioning, and manual assembly. Each experiment featured a series of trials generated from factorial combinations of performance variables. Subjects were assessed based on task completion time and different measures of accuracy. When compared to visual-only methods, quantitative results show that haptics-based interaction is beneficial in improving performance by reducing completion times for weight discrimination, permits higher placement accuracy when positioning virtual objects, and enables steadier hand motions along three-dimensional trajectories. The results also indicate that user accuracy in weight discrimination is dependent on hand dominance when manipulating the virtual object combined with the provided sensory information.