3D billiards game with haptic interface

Intuitive human-computer interaction has been an active research area with the participation of both academic and industrial groups. It is an important technical and psychological element in computer games, digital product design, cybers ports, etc. In this paper, we present our work on a 3D billiards game featuring a haptic interface. Most of the existing games available today concentrate on the development of sophisticated physics engines to obtain realistic motion of billiards balls or of sound engines for realistic sound effect. Our focus in this work is on the improved realism on the hitting action of the game with the aid of haptic device. We do so by computing accurate feedback force on the haptic handle, considering the exact point of contact and physically faithful collision response. Also presented is the physically based modeling of the game environment, including the collision interaction among billiards balls, and between the table and billiards balls. As a result, the players can enjoy a more realistic and pleasurable game compared to other existing 3D billiards games. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.