Impacto

TLDR

Impacto is a device designed to render the haptic sensation of hitting or being hit in virtual reality. Impacto achieves realistic haptic hits by combining a solenoid that taps the skin with electrical muscle stimulation that thrusts the arm backward, all in a small, wireless, self‑contained wearable that can be worn on arms, legs, or props and assembled into a haptic suit. Users rated the combined solenoid and electrical muscle stimulation of Impacto as more realistic than either technique alone.

Abstract

We present impacto, a device designed to render the haptic sensation of hitting or being hit in virtual reality. The key idea that allows the small and light impacto device to simulate a strong hit is that it decomposes the stimulus: it renders the tactile aspect of being hit by tapping the skin using a solenoid; it adds impact to the hit by thrusting the user's arm backwards using electrical muscle stimulation. The device is self-contained, wireless, and small enough for wearable use, thus leaves the user unencumbered and able to walk around freely in a virtual environment. The device is of generic shape, allowing it to also be worn on legs, so as to enhance the experience of kicking, or merged into props, such as a baseball bat. We demonstrate how to assemble multiple impacto units into a simple haptic suit. Participants of our study rated impact simulated using impacto's combination of solenoid hit and electrical muscle stimulation as more realistic than either technique in isolation.