Are existing metaphors in virtual environments suitable for haptic interaction

Abstract

Each computer application is designed to allow users to perform one or more tasks. As those tasks can be very diverse in nature and as they can become very complex with a lot of degrees of freedom, metaphors are used to facilitate the execution of those tasks. At present several metaphors exist, all with their strengths and weaknesses.

Our research focuses on haptic interaction and how this can support the user in accomplishing tasks within the virtual environment. This can be realised by integrating force feedback in a fully multimodal communication with e.g. speech and gestures. Therefore, suitable metaphors have to be found. This paper draws an overview of the metaphors currently used in virtual environments, classified by the task they are designed for, and examines if these metaphors support haptic feedback, or how they can be extended to do so.