Haptics Research · XR · 2026

Vibrotactile Texture Perception in VR

User study on vibrotactile texture perception — can rumble alone teach your fingers a texture?

Type: Research · Haptics
Stack: Quest 3 · Meta Haptic Studio
Date: 2026 · ongoing

Overview

An ongoing user study (sole author, advised by Prof. Heather Culbertson) on how people recognize textures rendered purely as controller vibration in VR — comparing absolute identification against relative discrimination.

Method

Haptic stimuli are authored in Meta Haptic Studio and paired with auditory feedback across three experimental conditions, varying how participants are tactilely grounded before each judgment.

Current work

Analyzing recognition accuracy and confidence ratings across grounding phases; results are being prepared for publication.