{"id":471108,"date":"2018-03-08T09:19:35","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T17:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?p=471108"},"modified":"2018-06-13T16:39:36","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T23:39:36","slug":"touching-virtual-microsoft-research-making-virtual-reality-tangible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/blog\/touching-virtual-microsoft-research-making-virtual-reality-tangible\/","title":{"rendered":"Touching the Virtual: How Microsoft Research is Making Virtual Reality Tangible"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAsk yourself how you really want to interact with virtual objects? The simple answer is that we want to handle them as if they are real, just reach out a hand to grasp them, pick them up, feel what they\u2019re made of, and do all that in a natural way that requires no learning.\u201d said Mike Sinclair, principal researcher at Microsoft Research\u2019s Redmond, WA labs.<\/p>\n

Sinclair is part of a team of talented researchers at Microsoft who each day strive to advance perhaps one of the most challenging areas of research and development in virtual reality, to realize and deliver truly immersive and convincing tactile experiences to users in VR.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re making some amazing progress.<\/p>\n

While VR and Augmented Reality (AR) have progressed dramatically in the past 30 years, with head-mounted units delivering fantastic visual worlds and 3D audio when we reach out our hand to touch any virtual object, the illusion is shattered; our hand ends up grasping air.<\/p>\n

But compared with visual and audio rendering capabilities of consumer devices, today\u2019s tactile offerings are mostly limited to buzz \u2013 vibrations generated by internal motors or actuators nested inside controllers. Researchers continue to strive to achieve realistic rendering of different tactile sensations. And consumers wait in hopeful anticipation for these experiences to become available.<\/p>\n

There are many reasons why haptic is such a hurdle. Anyone who\u2019s been to the movies understands that the eye and the ear can be tricked; film after all, at 24 frames per second, isn\u2019t true motion. But haptic is different and represents a challenge many orders of magnitude larger in complexity. Some of the challenges lie in the area of hardware. Laboratory prototypes such as exoskeletons and other hand mounted devices tend to be cumbersome, both to fit to individual users as well as to don and remove. Many current prototype devices simulate only a specific sensation, such as texture, heat, or weight and may not be versatile enough to attract users. Complex mechanics can render a device too expensive, too big or too fragile to be viable as a consumer product.<\/p>\n

The Microsoft Research team \u2013 Mike Sinclair, Christian Holz, Eyal Ofek, Hrvoje Benko, Ed Cutrell, and Meredith Ringel Morris \u2013 have been exploring ways existing technology can generate a wide range of haptic sensations that can fit within hand-held VR controllers, similar in look and feel to those currently used by consumers, enabling users to touch and grasp virtual objects, feel the sliding of finger tips along surfaces and more. Their dream: today\u2019s users interacting with the virtual digital world, more naturally, and in more ways than ever before.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat you really want is the impression of virtual shapes when you interact with objects in VR, not just the binary feedback you get from current devices. Our controllers render such shapes, giving your fingers and hands continuous and dynamic haptic feedback while you interact.\u201d \u2013 Christian Holz<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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CLAW<\/h2>\n

The first of the new haptic controllers<\/a> developed by the team is the CLAW<\/a>.\u00a0 The CLAW extends the concept of a VR controller to a multifunctional haptic tool, using a single motor. At first glance, it looks very similar to your standard VR controller. A closer look reveals a unique motorized arm that rotates the index finger relative to the palm to simulate force feedback.\u00a0It was first realized with the aid of Inrak Choy, an intern from Stanford University.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1. (Left) The CLAW’s <\/span>configuration and components. (Right) The CLAW <\/span>as it grabs a virtual object, and touches a virtual surface.<\/p><\/div>\n

The CLAW acts as a multi-purpose controller that contains both the expected functionality of VR controllers (thumb buttons and joysticks, 6DOF control, index finger trigger) as well as enabling a variety of haptic renderings for the most commonly expected hand interactions: grasping objects, touching virtual surfaces and receiving force feedback.<\/p>\n

But a unique characteristic of the CLAW is its ability to adapt haptic rendering by sensing differences in the user\u2019s grasp and the situational context of the virtual scene. As a user holds a thumb against the tip of the finger, the device simulates a grasping operation: the closing of the fingers around a virtual object is met with a resistive force, generating a sense that the object lies between the index finger and the thumb. A force sensor embedded in the index finger rest and changing the motor\u2019s response profiles enables the sensing of objects of different materials, from full rigid wooden block to an elastic sponge.<\/p>\n

If the user holds the thumb away from a grasp pose, for example on the handle, shaping the palm instead in a pointing gesture, the controller delivers touch sensations. Moving the tip of the finger toward a surface of a virtual objects generates a resistance that pushes the finger back and prevents the finger from penetrating the virtual surface. Furthermore, a voice coil mounted under the tip of the index finger delivers small vibrations generated by surface texture as the finger slides along a virtual surface.<\/p>\n

Sensing the force applied by the user can also help to interact with virtual objects. Pushing a slider allows the experienced friction to signal preferable states or pressure can change attributes of a paint brush or pen in a drawing program. The CLAW would represent a singular achievement all on its own but it is only one of several innovations in the haptic controller space that the team is sharing with the world.<\/p>\n