The haptic perception of texture in virtual environments: An investigation with two devices

The incorporation of the haptic sense (the combined effects of touch and proprioceptive information) into virtual reality (VR) has considerable potential to enhance the realism of virtual environments and make VR more accessible to blind people. This paper summarises an experiment into the haptic perception of texture in VR conducted with a Phantom haptic device. This experiment was an extension of a previous experiment involving the IE3000 haptic device in a programme of research into haptic perception in VR. On the basis of the reported work guidelines for the creation of haptic environments using textural information for both blind and sighted individuals are presented.