Effects of haptic feedback on user perception and performance in interactive projected augmented reality

By means of vibrotactile and force feedback, i.e., haptics, users are given the sensation of touching and manipulating virtual objects in interactive Extended Reality (XR) environments. However, research towards the influence of this feedback on the users' perception and performance in interactive XR is currently still scarce. In this work, we present an experimental evaluation of the effects of haptic feedback in interactive immersive applications. By means of a Projected Augmented Reality (PAR) setup, users were asked to interact with a projected environment by completing three different tasks based on finger-tracking and in the presence of visual latency. Evaluations were performed both subjectively (questionnaire) and objectively (i.e. duration and accuracy). We found out that while haptic feedback does not enhance the performance for simple tasks, it substantially improves it for more complex ones. This effect is more evident in presence of network degradation, such as latency. However, the subjective questionnaires showed a general skepticism about the potential of incorporating haptic information into immersive applications. As such, we believe that this paper provides an important contribution toward the understanding and assessment of the influence of haptic technology in interactive immersive systems.