Simulating Haptic Feedback Using Vision: A Survey of Research and Applications of Pseudo-Haptic Feedback

Abstract

This paper presents a survey of the main results obtained in the field of “pseudo-haptic feedback”: a technique meant to simulate haptic sensations in virtual environments using visual feedback and properties of human visuo-haptic perception. Pseudo-haptic feedback uses vision to distort haptic perception and verges on haptic illusions. Pseudo-haptic feedback has been used to simulate various haptic properties such as the stiffness of a virtual spring, the texture of an image, or the mass of a virtual object. This paper describes the several experiments in which these haptic properties were simulated. It assesses the definition and the properties of pseudo-haptic feedback. It also describes several virtual reality applications in which pseudo-haptic feedback has been successfully implemented, such as a virtual environment for vocational training of milling machine operations, or a medical simulator for training in regional anesthesia procedures.