Navigation in a 3D Virtual Environment Under Continuum Soft Robot Guidance: A Preliminary Study

Haptic guidance has been studied to promote sensory-based decision making and motor learning using rigid-body haptic robots, however at the expense of complex intertwined byproducts of motor skill learning and navigation synchronicity. Studies suggests further research is needed for an effective skill transfer from directional guidance cues to acquire navigation competence, due to haptic cues interfere to motor patterns. There arises the question on how a hyper-viscoelastic continuum soft-body robot (cSR) used as a haptic robot may contribute in this matter. In this paper, we explore directional cues (without force cues) conveyed by a cSR to enhance navigation skills in complex 3D immersive virtual reality environments. Volunteers held the cSR in their right hand to receive 3D directional stimuli, generated through the controlled active deformation of the CSR, while using the control handheld of an Oculus system in their left hand to dictate the orientation and movement of their avatar within a 3D virtual environment. A preliminary experimental study with six volunteers was con-ducted to evaluate the feasibility of using the soft robot to convey navigational cues within a 3D virtual environment. The results showed that volunteers successfully perceived directional cues, following similar trajectory and covering comparable distances to those achieved using only visual stimuli, demonstrating the effectiveness of the soft robot. This study suggests that a larger sample is needed to ensure scalability of results, as well as further investigation into the integration of haptic and visual stimuli for more conclusive findings.