Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Future Interfaces Group: figlab.com
Cathy Fang: cathy-fang.com
Chris Harrison: chrisharrison.net
Today’s consumer virtual reality (VR) systems offer immersive graphics and audio, but haptic feedback is rudimentary – delivered through controllers with vibration feedback or is non-existent (i.e., the hands operating freely in the air). In this paper, we explore an alternative, highly mobile and controller-free approach to haptics, where VR applications utilize the user’s own body to provide physical feedback. To achieve this, we warp (retarget) the locations of a user’s hands such that one hand serves as a physical surface or prop for the other hand. For example, a hand holding a virtual nail can serve as a physical backstop for a hand that is virtually hammering, providing a sense of impact in an air-borne and uninstrumented experience. To illustrate this rich design space, we implemented twelve interactive demos across three haptic categories. We conclude with a user study from which we draw design recommendations.
Future Interfaces Group, Carnegie Mellon University
Fang, C. and Harrison, C. 2021. Retargeted Self-Haptics for Increased Immersion in VR without Hand Instrumentation. In Proceedings of the 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (October 10 - 13, 2021). UIST '21. ACM, New York, NY.
Future Interfaces Group: figlab.com
Cathy Fang: cathy-fang.com
Chris Harrison: chrisharrison.net
Today’s consumer virtual reality (VR) systems offer immersive graphics and audio, but haptic feedback is rudimentary – delivered through controllers with vibration feedback or is non-existent (i.e., the hands operating freely in the air). In this paper, we explore an alternative, highly mobile and controller-free approach to haptics, where VR applications utilize the user’s own body to provide physical feedback. To achieve this, we warp (retarget) the locations of a user’s hands such that one hand serves as a physical surface or prop for the other hand. For example, a hand holding a virtual nail can serve as a physical backstop for a hand that is virtually hammering, providing a sense of impact in an air-borne and uninstrumented experience. To illustrate this rich design space, we implemented twelve interactive demos across three haptic categories. We conclude with a user study from which we draw design recommendations.
Future Interfaces Group, Carnegie Mellon University
Fang, C. and Harrison, C. 2021. Retargeted Self-Haptics for Increased Immersion in VR without Hand Instrumentation. In Proceedings of the 34th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (October 10 - 13, 2021). UIST '21. ACM, New York, NY.
![TouchTools [CMU/Qeexo]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/N8s8NJf34fM/mqdefault.jpg "TouchTools [CMU/Qeexo]
Gestures on todays touch devices are simplistic, solely relying on the number of fingers (1-finger pan, 2-finger zoom, 3-finger swipe, etc). We propose instead that gesture design be inspired by the manipulation of real world artifacts specifically tools. The result is a set of rich gestures for touch interaction that leverages user familiarity and fluency with real world objects.")
