PneumoVolley: Pressure-based Haptic Feedback on the Head through Pneumatic Actuation

Abstract

Haptic Feedback brings immersion and presence in Virtual Reality (VR) to the next level. While research proposes the usage of various tactile sensations, such as vibration or ultrasound approaches, the potential applicability of pressure feedback on the head is still under-explored. In this paper, we contribute concepts and design considerations for pressure-based feedback on the head through pneumatic actuation. As a proof-of-concept implementing our pressure-based haptics, we further present PneumoVolley: a VR experience similar to the classic Volleyball game but played with the head. In an exploratory user study with 9 participants, we evaluated our concepts and identified a significantly increased involvement compared to a no-haptics baseline along with high realism and enjoyment ratings using pressure-based feedback on the head in VR. LBW033, Page 1 CHI 2020 Late-Breaking Work