Feasibility and effect of low-cost haptics on user immersion in virtual environments

Since the later 1990s research into Immersion, Presence and Interactivity in the context of digital media has been steadily evolving into an exciting area of experimentation, fuelled by advances in the visual, audio and tracking capabilities of Virtual Reality (VR) equipment, thanks to these improvements studies into the effectiveness of this equipment in producing an immersive experience are now possible. This is most commonly achieved by measuring the perceived level of Presence experienced by participants in virtual environments, with the higher the sense of Presence created, the more effective a VR system is deemed to be. However, due to the current limitations of Haptic interaction methods investigation into the role that touch plays in generating this sense of Presence is somewhat restricted. Following a structured process of design and research work, this project presents a new approach to creating Haptic Interaction by deploying a Haptic Prototyping Toolkit that enables Passive Haptic Interactions in Virtual Environments. The findings of this work provide the foundations for future research into the development of interaction methods of this type.