IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION, VOL. 15, NO. 3, JUNE 1999 1 Book Reviews Force and Touch Feedback for Virtual Reality--G. Burdea (New York: Wiley, 1996, p. 339.) Reviewed by A. K. Bejczy The typical and most common interaction with world scenariossimulated by virtual reality (VR) techniques is purely visual and abstract: we look at graphic images and change view angles, shading, shadowing, etc., by keyboard or joystick commands. To whateverextent important and convenient is the visual and abstract interaction, it severely restricts our perception and handling of reality in many cases. We know that the everyday human life and progress in lifeis fundamentally bound to and depends on our haptic (touch and force) senses. The question then arises: can our interaction with VR be extended to include our haptic senses? Could we physically senseweight, temperature, edges and texture of properly simulated objects and thereby bringing them to life for us? This book is about this haptic interaction capability with the VR world.In the Introduction, the author specifies the terminology and provides a brief historical background which is anchored to real world needs in teleoperation and telerobotics. The book then continues withten well-structured chapters. The first chapter on Haptic Sensing and Control is dedicated to human kinesthetic sensing and describes the various receptors and related areas of the human body. Based onhuman factors experiments the author then summarizes the optimal signal characteristics for touch and force feedback to be observed by the input-output hardware on the user body. The next chapter iscalled Actuators and dedicated to the available technology for force and touch feedback, including electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic actuators and their hybrid and miniaturized versions. The next chapter on Nonportable Force Feedback describes desktop master systems and floor- and ceiling-mounted master systems, while the subsequent chapter on Portable Force Feedback describes arm exoskeleton andhand master ("glove") systems. The following chapter describes Tactile Feedback Interfaces, including tactile sensors, surface texture and geometry feedback, surface slip feedback, surface temperaturefeedback, and haptic masters that provide both tactile and force feedback which better comply with the human sensorial requirements. The chapters introduced so far basically dealt with the physics and physiology or psychophysiology of haptic interfaces and perception. The subsequent chapters deal with the haptic interfaces from the viewpoint of VR. The chapter on Physical Modeling outlines the Manuscript received January 6, 1998; revised April 8, 1998.The reviewer is with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA.Publisher Item Identifier S 1042-296X(99)03544-2. algorithmic modeling intricacies of virtual haptic feedback. This includes the modeling of collision detection, surface deformation,hard and soft contact simulation which is equivalent to the modeling of surface mechanical compliance. This chapter concludes with the discussion of modeling surface smoothness and of the importanceof integrating physical contraints in the VR simulation. The next chapter deals with the Control of Haptic Interfaces which includes the technical description of control methods and "quality" issues inhaptic feedback (impedance dynamic range, system bandwidth, time delay and stability). This chapter concludes with the discussion of distributed computation and programming issues for haptic feedback. Human Factors topics are discussed in the next chapter. The purpose of this chapter is to quantify the advantages of haptic feedback in terms of appropriate criteria like task error rates, subject learning time,user comfort, and safety. This chapter also pays attention to sensorial substitution and redundancy in haptic (specifically in force) feedback. Haptic Feedback Applications is the topic of the next chapter. Thisincludes fascinating medical applications like minimally invasive surgery and microsurgery as well as medical education, entertainment applications, telerobotic applications, and military applications.The last chapter deals with The Future. Here the author points out that "major improvements in feedback actuators, sensors, and computing hardware will lead to miniaturization, less cumbersomehaptic interface devices, and an increase in the user's safety and freedom of motion." These improvements should in turn lead to more natural, realistic, and useful simulations. The author quotes a fewpromising novel actuators as example, describes a haptic feedback suit and quotes large-volume simulations as indicators of the future. This chapter concludes with the "author's hope that this book willhelp make feedback an integral and key part of the future VR simulation industry." The book contains hundreds of tables, figures, and color illus-trations, and is augmented with a rich list of references (about 350) and a list of companies and research laboratories involved in related R&D and production work. This book can be consideredas the first comprehensive source of information on the design, modeling and applications of force and tactile interfaces for VR. The coverage and level of details make this book specifically usefulto engineers, computer scientists, human factors specialists, and application developers. The book may also be used as a text for a one-semester university design course in VR. Prof. F. P. Brooks, Jr.points out at the end of his Foreword to the book that "virtual world techniques, both for work and for play, will be made more effective and more delightful by the ability to feel, as well as to see and hear,the imaginary. To that end this book contributes significantly." (C) 1999 IEEE
Posted on "sci.virtual-worlds" Mike Bevan: INFO: Force feedback products and researchesThu, 13 Jul 1995 10:57 Prof. Burdea writes: >You may want to consult the July issue of UK-based "VR News" which >includes a review article on commercially-available force feedback >products. I am grateful to Prof. Burdea for this. His invaluable book 'Virtual Reality Technology' (Grigore Burdea and Philippe Coiffet: John Wiley & Sons Inc., ISBN 0-471-08632-0), which includes expert coverage of the physiology and technology of force and tactile feedback, was reviewed in our June issue by Prof. Robert Stone, head of the UK's National Centre for Virtual Environments. For the benefit of those who have not seen it, Prof. Stone's review is set out below. Mike Bevan Editor - VR NEWS BOOK REVIEW - May 1995 by Bob Stone, Professor at Salford University, UK. VR News Volume 4, Issue 5, June 1995, page 29. Book Review VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNOLOGY Grigore Burdea and Philippe Coiffet John Wiley& Sons Inc; 1994 ISBN 0-471-08632-0 When earlier this summer during VR World '95 in Strutgart, I was approached by Greg Burdea with a request to review "his new book", I agreed, expecting to be sent a text which was highly biased towards tactile and force feedback systems- this well known and respected specialization of Rutgers University in New Jersey. What I did not expect to receive was a general book on VR technologies of such high quality. Co-authored by Philippe Coiffet, Research Director of CNRS in France, the book succeeds, to my mind, in pitting across the technical achievements and challenges of VR in a clear, concise and unbiased way. A particular plus point for the book is that the authors have departed from the traditional VR history-displays-input devices-applications formula, and have presented the subject matter in a very integrated and coherent manner. Also, this is the first text I have read which provides adequate coverage of computing in VR, not just for immersive systems, but also for desktop applications. Three chapters are dedicated to computing architectures, modelling, and programming in VR provide the reader with an excellent understanding of the issues surrounding PC based toolkits, parallel and distributed VR systems, VR world optimization and interaction. As one would expect, the chapter covering tactile and force feedback is excellent, reinforced later in the book with further coverage of the computational requirements surrounding object dynamics, tactile texture, weight and surface deformation/compliance. In fact, throughout the book, it was particularly satisfying to see that Burdea and Coiffet had not followed the annoying recent trend of padding out chapters with obvious extracts from other books on "how the eye works" or "how the ear works". Rather, they have carefully and concisely summarized the main psychological and physiological issues in a way which complements later discussions of individual VR technologies. One chapter I was very pleased to see and even more pleased to read is entitled Human Factors in VR. In particular, one subsection covering VR Evaluation Methodologies, is an excellent attempt to put forward the problems of quantitative and qualitative assessment of VR technologies and applications, drawing valid parallels with human factors endeavours in related fields such as telerobotics. This is a problem area which a few VR authors have acknowledged, but most have declined to pursue in any great detail. I only have two criticisms of the book's contents. The first is that in places, Burdea and Coiffet suddenly jump into a mode of presenting quite complex technical and mathematical information, better suited for a lower-level-text-book, and somewhat out of keeping with the style of the remainder of the book. I also felt that the applications sections were rather biased towards US developments, with only a mention or two of European developments. Nevertheless, overall this is an excellent book, suitable for VR newcomers and veterans alike, and one which now certainly sits on top of my recommended reading list, both for students and industrialists.
BOOK REVIEW IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine Vol. 14, Number 2, March/April 1995 Virtual Reality Technology G. Burdea and P. Coiffet John Wiley & Sons, 1994, xvi+400 pages, ISBN 0-471-08632-0. $54.95 This book is devoted to virtual reality technology, from hardware for 3-d trackers, sensory gloves, displays and 3-D sound generators, to software development. Its contents also covers applications as related to medical care, personal training, entertainment, bussness, and manufacturing. The most interesting approach taken by the authors was to devote one of the chapters to force and tactile concepts, which have not been widely reported elsewhere. The text is a very well organized. It can be used for senior and graduate engineering students, as well as by researchers in the areas of medicine, the military, robotics, and by those involved in entertainment, the arts, and education. The examples are very carefully chosen. I strongly recommend this book to anyone, from the undergraduate student to the surgeon. The first chapter defines and summarizes virtual reality technology. Virtual reality tools include 3-D position sensors, 3-D magnetic probes, sensing gloves, stereo viewing devices, and 3-D sound generators which are all very well introduced in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 discusses new and exciting research areas in virtual reality technology, including the concept of ``Touch and Force Feedback''. Virtual reality computer architectures designed to fulfill the requirement of high speed I/O and real-time simulations are covered in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 introduces geometric, kinematic, physical and behavior modeling to characterize the virtual reality environment. Chapter 6 covers virtual reality programming techniques such as world editing, event scheduling and graphical programming. Chapter 7 discusses ergonomics, physiological and psychological aspects of virtual reality. It also covers the impact of virtual reality on our private and public life. The applications of virtual reality to medicine, arts, entertainment, bussness, and the military are presented in Chapter 8. As a biomedical engineer, I really enjoyed reading this chapter, especially the sections related to the applications of virtual reality to surgery and rehabilitation. Finally, in chapter 9, the authors describe some recent advances in virtual reality technology, including large volume tracking, new displays, new displays, neural interfaces, image gloves, voice control, and portable computers. Metin Akay, Department of Biomedical Engineering Rutgers University.
Posting to sci.virtual-worlds April 19, 1995 (The following article has been excerpted from the upcoming, May 1995 issue of "Virtual Reality Monthly," an industry newsletter of VR. The Essential VR Library Toni Emerson's Top Ten VR enthusiasts looking to jumpstart a collection of essential VR books need go no further than Toni Emerson. The widely acknowledged first and last word when it comes to the skinny on the best in VR literature, Emerson has been tracking writings on the technology full time for the past four years as chief "cybrarian" at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Lab in Seattle. ....... Given the wide variety of literature available, it was tough for Emersonto keep her list to only ten. But after some cajoling, she finally came across with her picks. Here they are: ..... (4) *"Virtual Reality Technology," Grigore Burdea and Philippe Coiffet (New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1994) "An excellent book as far as walking you through," Emerson says. "But it's not the basic, easy read. This is a good textbook for VR with a decent bibliography in the back. I say decent, because I have written my own and am, of course, prejudiced."
Posting to sci.virtual-worlds April 17, 1995. Robert Lindeman: >PUB: Virtual Reality Technology 17 Apr 1995 18:34 Bill Thompson (wgthom@gandalf.rutgers.edu) wrote: : Here is the review appeared in the IEEE EMB Magazine March 1995 issue : Virtual Reality Technology : G. Burdea and P. Coiffet. [...] I read this text, and found it to be a good introduction to the many different aspects of VR. It covers many of the "important" papers in the field, and hence provides a good bibliography. --- _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ (gogo@seas.gwu.edu a.k.a. Robert W. Lindeman)