Haptic communication to enhance collaboration in virtual environments

Motivation -- To study haptic communication in collaborative virtual environments. Research approach -- An experimental study was conducted, in which 60 students were asked to perform in dyads a shared manual task after a training period. Findings/Design -- The results show that haptic communication can influence the common frame of reference development in a shared manual task. Research limitations/Implications -- Deeper verbalization analyses are needed to evaluate the common frame of reference development. Originality/Value -- This study highlights haptic interactions importance when designing virtual environment that support shared manual tasks. Take away message -- Haptic communication, combined with visual and verbal communication, enriches interactions in collaborative virtual environments.