[D83] High-Fidelity Contact Rendering: Feel realistic forces from virtual objects!

A haptic interface enables the user to interact with virtual environments, and sense virtual objects. The key to producing realistic feeling is to feed back a contact force that closely emulates its physical counterpart. In this demo, we demonstrate the application of the High-Fidelity Contact Rendering framework developed by our research group at McGill to a billiard haptic game. The classic one-dimensional spring-damper virtual coupling has been generalized to a 5-DoF force feedback virtual tool. This virtual tool (the cue) is formulated as a spatial viscoelastic beam element with energy-consistent force feedback, and couples the haptic device to the virtual objects (the billiard balls). The interaction between the cue and balls is described at the impulse level. Poisson´s law for impacts with friction has been applied. The demo employs the W5D device by Entact Robotics, C++ S-functions based on the W5D API, Simulink Real-Time Workshop and the VRML Blockset.