Haptic Feedback With Higher-Order Implicit Integrators

Implicit integrators are lauded in Computer Graphics research for their stability and have been demonstrated to result in stable and responsive haptic feedback. However, the commonly used first-order Backward Difference Formula (BDF1) results in significant numerical damping and consequential inaccuracies of the resulting dynamics. Higher-order implicit integrators remedy this with lower energy dissipation at a higher computational cost. In this paper we examine the use of multiple higher-order integrators and their effect on virtual coupling force feedback during a god-object haptic simulation. We assess the free-space force as well as the force during contact and a penalty based collision response. In addition, we utilize a novel mesh processing technique which allows easily parallelizable collision detection and a higher contact fidelity. Our method is implemented using a Lambda.7 haptic device and our results show that using higher order integrators result in a more energy conservative response and preservation of high frequency dynamics. This is shown using our contact mesh but generalize to typical polygonal mesh representation.