Gesture coordination in collaborative tasks through augmented haptic feedthrough

This article explores the use of haptic feedback for interpersonal communication in Collaborative Virtual Environments. The investigated approach enables the improvement of communication and coordination during closely coupled collaboration presenting several communication constraints (e.g., large and complex environments, distant collaboration, etc.). After the presentation of involved communication mechanisms, we propose the investigation of a low level communication approach through a haptic feedthrough mechanism. This channel is used to communicate kinematic information about a partner’s gestures during closely coupled collaboration. Several communication metaphors, with complementary behaviors, were investigated to improve the coordination between two partners during an assembly task. The results clearly show the role of the proposed strategies for the improvement of gesture coordination and highlight the correlation between applied force and the level of coordination.