Module-based architecture of world model for haptic virtual reality

Abstract

Recently the force-feedback has been recognized to be important for virtual reality systems, and many studies have been done in this field. Although we have proposed several methods for displaying the operating feel of a virtual object considering its dynamics in previous works, we have not paid much attention to cases of multiple objects or operators. In more advanced applications of haptic virtual reality, however, the case of multiple operators and multiple dynamic objects will become more important. In this paper, we propose a systematic method of constructing a dynamic virtual world by combining dynamics modules and interaction modules, the former representing elements of the virtual world — virtual objects and real operators — and the latter representing interactions between them. Since this method makes it possible to regard these elements as equal, we can construct a flexible and extendible virtual world to which we can easily add new elements or remove some of its elements. An experimental result using a prototype force display system shows the validity of the proposed method.

This paper is a revised version of [8].