Assessing the user experience of consumer haptic devices for simulation-based virtual reality

Although technological advancements brought us increasingly realistic virtual experiences, Virtual Reality (VR) still basically relies on high visual and audio fidelity only. Indeed, haptic devices that could help to digitally recreate a further sense have been subject of investigations for a long time, but it is only recently that they took their first steps in the consumer domain. Within the definition of haptic feedback, various kinds of stimuli can be identified, though entry-level haptic devices usually supports just a subset of them. In order to cope with this limitation, less capable haptic devices may be combined with alternative approaches for providing haptic stimuli, compensating possible lacks through configurations that are affordable than fully-fledged products. This work investigates the performance, in terms of User eXperience (UX), of two haptic solutions based on consumer devices: a VR glove endowed with both vibrational and force-feedback, and a VR haptic glove provided with vibrational feedback paired with a passive haptic-based mock-up. The two configurations are compared by means of a user study against a relevant scenario in the context of a simulation-based VR experience encompassing the use of an electromechanical tool.