AirGlove: A force feedback device for virtual reality

This paper presents design and implementation of a force feedback hand master called AirGlove for virtual reality applications. The device uses six air nozzles mounted on a glove in a Cartesian coordinate frame setting to apply a point force to the user's hand. At any given time, up to three nozzles may exhaust air jets. The magnitude and direction of the applied force are controlled by changing the flow rate of the air jets and by activating different nozzles. Experimental results indicate that the air jet controllers of the device can maintain air flow rates in spite of disturbances. Also, the AirGlove can improve the realism of a virtual reality simulation by allowing the weight of virtual objects to be felt by the user.