Usability of a virtual reality system based on a wearable haptic interface

Recent scientific works regarding interaction in virtual realities presented many different approaches for haptic feedback. However, the usability of a wearable device, which deflects forces on the user´s body in some way, has not been evaluated up until now in the context of virtual realities. In this work we present the application of a wearable haptic interface in virtual realities and evaluate its usability. The wearable haptic interface can be carried like a backpack, is embedded in a multimodal virtual reality framework and enables its user to touch and manipulate virtual objects with his right arm. We evaluate whether the deflection of forces on the user´s torso degrades the sense of presence and assess the usability and user acceptance of the wearable haptic interface in a virtual reality scenario. We conducted a presence questionnaire with 18 test persons in order to acquire subjective measures. As an objective measure a task performance experiment was carried out.