Feel to Aim: Haptic Assistance for Enhanced Targeting in Virtual Reality

Haptic technology has the potential to substantially support users in mastering complex activities and improving their performance. This paper presents a haptic assistance system for targeting in virtual reality (VR), designed to enhance accuracy and user confidence during aiming tasks by enabling users to sense proximity to and guiding their motion toward a target. To evaluate its effectiveness, we conducted a user study (N = 28) using a custom VR archery simulation, assessing both quantitative performance metrics and qualitative user feedback. With haptic guidance, participants achieved significantly higher targeting accuracy and reported increased spatial awareness, although some also noted a reduced sense of agency. These results suggest that, while haptic assistance offers clear benefits, careful design is essential to avoid overreliance or interference with user autonomy in contexts such as accessibility, gaming, and broader human-computer interaction.