Development of a haptic communication system for fashion image experience in a virtual environment

Abstract

The goal of this study was to develop a haptic communication system that can convey the tactile sensation of fashion materials in a virtual environment. In addition, the effectiveness and how realistically the virtual fabric image of this system delivers the tactile sensation of actual fabric was verified. First, a literature review was conducted through which the tactile attributes of fashion materials were defined that would be implemented in the haptic communication system. Then, a questionnaire for evaluating the tactile attributes of fashion materials was developed. Next, a haptic communication system was designed to convey fashion image experiences in a virtual environment, from which a haptic rendering model was suggested. The effectiveness of the haptic communication system was evaluated by verifying user experiences with questions developed through a user evaluation experiment. The validity of the evaluation questions pertaining to the tactile attributes and the effects of the haptic communication system were verified. Factor analysis was conducted to verify the evaluation of the tactile sense attributes of the fashion material, which identified density, thickness, and elasticity of the material as key factors. As a result of comparisons between the tactile sense through haptic characteristics and through touching, it was observed that regarding density and thickness, tactile sense experience led to greater perceived reality, while this was not the case for elasticity.