Haptic Navigation in Virtual Reality : Investigating and developing guidelines for vibrotactile feedback using multiple types of information simultaneously

Sammanfattning: In recent years, progress has been made regarding the use of tactile devices such as belts and helmets for navigational tasks. As most of the devices and solutions so far have focused on presenting one type of information at a time, the potential for tactile devices for simultaneous multiple tasks have yet to be properly explored. Based on such research, this study investigates various methods of presenting multiple simultaneous information using a vibrotactile head-mounted device for navigational tasks in a virtual space. The goal is to determine if it is possible to effectively present various simultaneous navigational information with vibrotactile feedback in a virtual space, and if so, determine guidelines for doing so while avoiding cognitive overload. Using a tactile head-mounted device known as the Perman Helmet various functions related to several navigational tasks in a virtual space were developed. These tasks were collision avoidance, object search and compass orientation. First a test was conducted to determine the most suitable solution for each given task. For each task three different types of solutions were developed, tested, and evaluated in an appropriate testing scenario. Afterwards, a second test was conducted to determine guidelines for how to combine those various solutions to present as much information as possible while avoiding cognitive overload. A new testing environment was created that incorporated all three tasks and various combination of the solutions were tested, along with two special configurations to test other factors. The results from the experiments shows that using several simultaneous vibrotactile signals representing different types of information is feasible and practical with at least 3 different types of signals. Furthermore, various types approaches and combinations have been considered and compared. Based on these findings, several guidelines when developing systems informing a user with multiple vibrotactile feedback signals have been proposed. These findings could help hasten the development of commercial and industrial multiuse vibrotactile devices, making it a relevant field of study.