VR (Virtual reality) provides an immersive experience that shows different visual and auditory displays to the user through the usage of glasses or HMD(head mounted display). It would be nice if the user could perceive the virtual objects in VR given the realistic graphic rendering. However, rendering haptics in such diverse environments is challenging. VR’s spatial rendering capabilities made interaction complex and often at different locations with different magnitudes. This project aims to use quadcopters installed with safe-to-touch cages to provide haptic feedback to users. By analyzing the position of the haptic encountering, we command the drone to push back to the user using its propeller thrust, providing an illusion of haptics. The magnitude of the feedback is determined by the virtual interaction, while the drone pushes at different magnitudes using its thrust.
We explored vastly different approaches in diversifying the haptic experience and thrust capabilities, such as using the drone with a cage directly pushing back at the user, or designing joystick-like cages that can fly into the user’s hand.
[1] Yang Chen, Hamed Alimohammadzadeh, Shahram Ghandeharizadeh, and Heather Culbertson, “Force-feedback through touch-based interactions with a nanocopter,” in IEEE Haptics Symposium, 2024.
[2] Yang Chen, Xinlei Yu, Heather Culbertson, “CrazyJoystick: A Handheld Flyable Joystick for Providing On-Demand Haptic Feedback in Virtual Reality“, submitted to CHI 2025