Active mechanical haptics with high-fidelity perceptions for immersive virtual reality

Human-centred mechanical sensory perceptions enable us to immerse ourselves in the physical environment by actively touching or holding objects so that we may feel their existence (that is, ownership) and their fundamental properties (for example, stiffness or hardness). In a virtual environment, the replication of these active perceptions can create authentic haptic experiences, serving as an essential supplement for visual and auditory experiences. We present here a first-person, human-triggered haptic device enabled by curved origami that allows humans to actively experience touching of objects with various stiffness perceptions from soft to hard and from positive to negative ranges. This device represents a substantial shift away from the third-person, machine-triggered and passive haptics currently in use. The device is synchronized with the virtual environment by changing its configuration to adapt various interactions by emulating body-centred physical perceptions, including hardness, softness and sensations of crushing and weightlessness. Quantitative evaluations demonstrate that the active haptic device creates a highly immersive virtual environment, outperforming existing vibration-based passive devices. These concepts and resulting technologies create new opportunities and application potential for a more authentic virtual world. Immersive virtual reality requires artificial sensory perceptions to simulate what we feel and how we interact in the natural environment. Zhang and colleagues present a first-person, human-triggered, active haptic device that allows users to experience mechanical touching with various stiffness perceptions from positive to negative ranges, achieved by the unique benefits of curved origami.