HapticHead: 3D Guidance and Target Acquisition through a Vibrotactile Grid
Current generation virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) head mounted displays (HMDs) usually include no or only a single vibration motor for haptic feedback and do not use it for guidance. We present HapticHead, a system utilizing 20 vibration motors distributed in three concentric ellipses around the head to give intuitive haptic guidance hints and to increase immersion for VR and AR applications. Our user study indicates that HapticHead is both faster (mean=3.7s, SD=2.3s vs. mean=7.8s, SD=5.0s) and more precise (92.7% vs. 44.9% hit rate) than auditory feedback for the purpose of finding virtual objects in 3D space around the user. The baseline of visual feedback is as expected more precise (99.9% hit rate) and faster (mean=1.5s, SD=0.6s) in comparison but there are many applications in which visual feedback is not desirable or available due to lighting conditions, visual overload, or visual impairments.
CHI Extended Abstracts