Design and development of a haptic controller for enhancing the immersive experience of virtual reality

Since the first computer came to the world, the way people interact with computers has never stopped progressing. From the bulky cathode-ray tube monitor and heavy mechanical keyboard to the portable smartphone and its touch screen, the interaction is becoming more intuitive and immersive. Virtual reality, after the touch screen, a new way of interacting with the digital world, has pushed the immersive experience to a new level. After several years of development of VR technology, VR products are now much more affordable and user-friendly than before. However, compared to PC or smartphones, which nearly everybody has, VR products are still for the minority. My initial research focuses on the reason why the VR market is growing slowly and trying to push VR devices to become a more demanding product. The main reason can be classified into two parts: VR hardware and software. This paper focuses on the VR hardware, which is the VR controller. By improving the VR controller design, brings VR a much more immersive experience.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.F.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art and Design

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Zhaofu

Contributors dc:contributor

• Sethi, Suresh
• Singer, Andrew
• Aguiar, Carlos

• Haptic
• Virtual reality
• Controller

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Zhaofu Zhang

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116277

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F116277