The haptic hand: providing user interface feedback with the non-dominant hand in virtual environments

We present a user interface for virtual environments that utilizes the non-dominant hand to provide haptic feedback to the dominant hand while it interacts with widgets on a virtual control panel. We believe this technique improves on existing prop-based methods of providing haptic feedback. To gauge the interface’s effectiveness, we performed a usability study. We do not present a formal comparison with prior techniques here. The goal of this study was to determine the feasibility of using the non-dominant hand for haptic feedback, and to obtain subjective data about usability. The results demonstrated that the interface allowed users to perform precision tasks. These results have convinced us that this technique has potential and warrants further development.