Collaborative Pseudo-Haptics: Two-User Stiffness Discrimination Based on Visual Feedback

Pseudo-Haptic feedback has been the object of several studies exploring how haptic illusions can be generated when interacting with virtual environments using visual feedback. In this work we explore how the concept of pseudo-haptic feedback can be introduced in a collaborative scenario. A remote collaborative scenario in which two users interact with a deformable object is presented. Each user, through touch-based input, is able to interact with a deformable virtual object displayed in a standard display screen. The visual deformation of the virtual object is driven by a pseudo-haptic approach taking into account both the user input and the simulated physical properties. Particularly, we investigated stiffness perception. In order to validate our approach, we tested our system in a single and two-user configuration. The results showed that users were able to discriminate the stiffness of the virtual object in both conditions with a comparable performance. Thus, pseudo-haptic feedback seems a promising tool for providing multiple users with physical information related to other users' interactions.