Evaluation of Different Vibration Visualization Modes for Line Tracking

Abstract

Using a vibration magnitude model [Wan06] established for the PHANToM haptic device, we have investigated the usability of different modes within a line tracking task. Three key questions were evaluated: (1) does vibration aid in tracking visible lines? (2) Which of the key vibration modes is preferred, either the vibration online mode where the vibration decreases with the distance from the line, or the vibration offline mode where the vibration increases away from the line? (3) And is linear or model constrained mapping more beneficial to the task? The experiment results show that although the vibration mode implemented on visible lines is actually more time-consuming than the mode without vibration, the time ratios spent in high accuracy areas with vibration are enhanced. In comparison with the online vibration, the vibration offline mode provides the more accurate performance to both visible and invisible lines. In certain cases, the vibration magnitude model mapping mode is shown to give superior results, however generally it has the similar usability with the linear mapping mode.