The Effect of Freespace Properties on Unilateral Stiffness Classification

Virtual environments rendered through kinesthetic haptic devices have frequency-dependent dynamic properties that affect perception. Previous studies on the perception of virtual walls have suggested that the properties not only of the wall, but also of the freespace with which it is paired, influence the perceived wall stiffness (bias) and discrimination thresholds. In this work, two experiments were undertaken to examine the effect of mass and damping properties in freespace on virtual wall stiffness classification. The results suggest that there may be alterations to classification performance under large changes in freespace conditions, but that small changes in mass and damping do not appear to significantly affect performance. These results suggest that additional study is needed to fully understand the effects of freespace properties on wall stiffness classification, which may differ from their effects on discrimination or bias.