Fine Motor Tasks in Virtual Reality: the Impact of Haptic Feedback and Object Characterization

Abstract

Fine motor tasks in Virtual Reality (VR) are often constrained by the lack of natural sensory cues, particularly the sense of touch. Previous studies have shown that object characteristics (e.g., shape and size) influence how users perceive and interact with objects. However, the literature lacks insight into how these factors affect each other. This study investigates how different haptic feedback modalities and object characteristics influence user performance during fine motor tasks in VR. We conducted a user study with 25 participants as SenseGlove Nova 1 rendered alternative haptic feedback conditions: combined (force and vibration), force-only, vibration-only, and no feedback. Participants grasped and inserted virtual objects of different shapes (cube, cylinder, pentagon, triangle) and sizes (small, medium, large) into a toybox. Our results show that combined feedback consistently led to greater precision, fewer collisions, and an improved manipulation experience, particularly with larger and more complex objects. Object characteristics also significantly influenced performance: medium-sized and simpler-shaped objects created the best results. Additionally, object characteristics also influenced performance, with medium-sized and simpler-shaped objects leading to better performance. Our findings indicate the need to choose haptic feedback modalities based on object-specific characteristics for better user performance and experience.