DesktopGlove: A multi-finger force feedback interface separating degrees of freedom between hands

In virtual environments, interacting directly with our hands and fingers greatly contributes to immersion, especially when force feedback is provided for simulating the touch of virtual objects. Yet, common haptic interfaces are unfit for multi-finger manipulation and only costly and cumbersome grounded exoskeletons do provide all the efforts expected from object manipulation. To make multi-finger haptic interaction more accessible, we propose to combine two affordable haptic interfaces into a bimanual setup named DesktopGlove. With this approach, each hand is in charge of different components of object manipulation: one commands the global motion of a virtual hand while the other controls its fingers for grasping. In addition, each hand is subjected to forces that relate to its own degrees of freedom so that users perceive a variety of haptic effects through both of them. Our results show that (1) users are able to integrate the separated degrees of freedom of DesktopGlove to efficiently control a virtual hand in a posing task, (2) DesktopGlove shows overall better performance than a traditional data glove and is preferred by users, and (3) users considered the separated haptic feedback realistic and accurate for manipulating objects in virtual environments.