Haptic Thermal Interface: A New Technology for Supporting Presence in Multimodal Virtual Environments?

This paper describes how the thermal user interface system can be integrated into other input devices to develop multimodal user interfaces that present multisensory feedback. Multimodal virtual environments supporting both haptic force and haptic thermal feedback will allow researchers to investigate a wide range of research issues involved in presence study. Among presence-related research questions are 1) what role the additional thermal feedback has for presence in multimodal virtual environments, 2) whether it affects task performance in various task environments, 3) what kinds of design principles and guidelines of multimodal user interfaces should be considered to improve the user’s perceived presence, and 4) how those principles and guidelines can be applied to the use of multimodal user interfaces in various applications.