Vibrotactile Metaphor of Physical Interaction Using Body-Penetrating Phantom Sensations: Stepping on a Virtual Object

During locomotion, people perceive rich haptic information from the floor and the object in contact with their feet. Conventional simulation of such physical interaction in virtual reality is mostly limited to expressing the material or texture of the floor by stimulating only the sole of a foot using vibrotactile stimuli. This paper presents a vibrotactile metaphor that mimics the physical interaction of stepping on a virtual object using body-penetrating phantom sensations between the sole and the instep. For both passive and active perception, we compare the effectiveness between the penetrating illusion and the single stimulation on the sole, with and without visual feedback. Experimental results show that our vibrotactile metaphor is effective for passive perception and less effective when there is active user movement. Our discovery enriches virtual tactile experiences that can be felt with the feet.1