Waving Blanket: Dynamic Liquid Distribution for Multiple Tactile Feedback using Rewirable Piping System

Abstract

Perceiving multiple tactile sensations in virtual reality(VR) is one of the keys to enabling a compelling, immersive experience. The haptic experience consists of different receptors on the human body. Although several haptic technologies can produce different tactile stimulation to achieve the experience, the hybrid haptic system needs to combine each technique, requiring a complex configuration. Therefore, our goal is to provide several stimulations in one technique to reduce the effort to integrate haptic devices. This paper presents Waving Blanket, a dynamic liquid distribution system for multiple tactile feedback, utilizing a water pump and air valve to transmit and allocate the liquid in the pipe. We designed a virtual natural scene and developed a relaxation application called "Water Forest"with our haptic system to show the possibility by combining visual-auditory feedback. Additionally, a rewirable piping system is adopted to explore the mechanism of simulating vibration, pressure, weight, and weight-shifting feedback.