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reduced-vision exploration of active cues through haptics
A.H. Naronikar (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
G. Huisman – Mentor (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
H. Verma – Mentor (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
M. Babaei – Mentor (SenseGlove)
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Abstract
Wearable haptic gloves have made it possible to feel virtual objects through vibrotactile and force feedback, opening new possibilities for training, simulation, and accessible interaction in virtual reality. Yet a fundamental question about their perceptual capability has gone unanswered: when visual information is removed and touch becomes the only available channel, how reliably can users discriminate object size through haptic feedback alone?
This thesis investigates that question through a controlled psychophysical experiment conducted in collaboration with SenseGlove, using their Nova 2 haptic gloves. The study compares size discrimination performance under two conditions, one in which participants can see their hand during active grasping and one in which they cannot, applying established psychophysical methods to measure perceptual thresholds with precision. Confidence is recorded alongside accuracy, and a structured post-session interview surfaces participant strategies, device observations, and the real-world applications they envision.
The findings challenge a straightforward reading of visual dominance in haptic VR contexts, contribute the first formally measured haptic-only size discrimination baseline for active grasping with a wearable haptic glove, and reveal a meaningful gap between what the device supports perceptually and what users can sense about their own performance in the moment.
The thesis also documents the iterative process through which the experimental environment was designed, offering a set of grounded design principles for researchers working in haptic-only VR contexts.