OE-2.4 Haptics, Tracking & Interaction Devices

Work through these

• Tactile and force feedback devices; haptic illusions

  Devices that push back, and the shortcuts that fool the hand into feeling something that is not there. The illusions matter because full force feedback is expensive and the illusions are not.

• Sensors for tracking position, orientation and motion

  How a system knows where your head and hands are, which is the problem the next two items solve in different ways. Accuracy, latency and drift are the three numbers to compare on.

• Optical trackers and beacon trackers

  The optical family, using cameras and known reference points. Accurate, and it fails when something blocks the line of sight, which is the trade to remember.

• Electromagnetic trackers; inertial sensors; acoustic sensors

  Three more families, each failing differently: metal disturbs one, drift accumulates in another, and the third is slow. Sensor fusion exists because no single one is good enough alone.

• 2D versus 3D interaction and navigation

  Interacting in three dimensions when every habit you have is two-dimensional. It is the reason many interfaces in this field feel awkward even when the hardware is good.

• The importance of a manual interface

  Why the hands need something to do, and what happens to presence when they do not. It is a design argument rather than a hardware one, and it decides whether an experience convinces.

• Hand and gesture tracking gloves; whole body tracking

  Devices worn on the hand, and systems that follow the whole body. The finer the resolution, the more it costs and the more it constrains movement.

• Gaming and entertainment interfaces

  The consumer end, where most of this hardware actually ships. Worth knowing because the mass market decides which of the technologies above survive.