Effective Cooperative Haptic Interaction over the Internet

We present a system that enables, for the first time, effective transatlantic haptic cooperation. We propose a technique for maintaining synchrony between simulations in a peer-to-peer system, while providing responsive direct manipulation for all users. The effectiveness of this is determined through extensive user trials involving concurrent haptic manipulation of a shared object. A CAD assembly task, using physics-based motion simulation and haptic feedback, was carried out between the USA and the UK with network latencies in the order of 120ms. We compare the effects of latency on synchrony between peers, over the Internet and over a local area network. Both quantitatively and qualitatively, when using the technique, the performance achieved over the Internet is comparable to that on a LAN. As such, this technique constitutes a significant step forward for distributed haptic collaboration. CR Categories: I.3.2 [Computer Graphics]: Graphics Systems— Distributed/network graphics; I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: ThreeDimensional Graphics and Realism—Virtual reality; H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces—Haptic I/O; H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces— Evaluation/methodology I.6.8 [Simulation and Modeling]: Types of Simulation—Distributed Simulation