GroundedReach: Enabling Body-grounded Haptic Experience in Virtual Reality with an Elbow Wearable Haptic Device
Yilong Lin, Tianze Xie, Yuxin Ma, Daniele Giunchi, Mike J. Sinclair, Seungwoo Je, Eyal Ofek
Grounded haptic experience is essential for immersive virtual reality (VR), but existing solutions face a fundamental trade-off. Complex grounded devices and exoskeletons provide convincing force feedback, but limit user mobility and can be challenging to wear. In contrast, handheld and hand-wearable devices maintain user mobility but do not provide grounded resistance. We identify a subset of scenarios common to many VR applications. In these scenarios, the user stands or sits in a fixed location, such as in a cockpit. In such situations, interactions with grounded objects can be plausibly rendered by resisting the user's arm extension or flexion. We introduce GroundedReach, an elbow-wearable device that resists arm extension and flexion with a single-joint architecture. The system combines brake-based Dynamic Passive Haptic Feedback (DPHF) with a servo-controlled ratchet to render continuous resistance and rigid stopping forces. A pre-study with 15 participants shows that elbow-only resistance is as effective as combined elbow-and-shoulder resistance for perceived realism. Two further studies show that GroundedReach improves task efficiency, perceived realism, and enjoyment over visual-only feedback. Its single-joint design enables a compact peripheral that is easy to don and to share across users.
