Design and Development of a Low-cost Device for Weight and Center of Gravity Simulation in Virtual Reality

With rapid advances in virtual reality (VR) technology, the use of haptics has become important to allow users to feel the physical properties of virtual objects. Current research has focused mainly on either weight variation or changing the center of gravity, which limits the simulation potential and may affect the feeling of immersion. This research explores the design and development of a device that can simulate both weight and center of gravity using low-cost components. Through an iterative design process and continuous testing with users, we arrived at a final prototype, FluidWeight, a device that can be attached to a typical VR handheld controller. FluidWeight uses fluid, which is transported from a central storage to a receptacle attached to the controller. A final experiment shows that users enjoyed using it because it could help increase the sense of realism in VR applications.