Modeling of intelligent behaviour in haptic enabled tug-of-war simulation

Virtual environment (VE) is a prime component in haptic interaction system. Traditional passive VE is not suitable to model human-machine interaction intelligence in haptic system such as a virtual tug-of-war system. Novel taxonomy of virtual environment is proposed according to different interaction tasks in physical world. Based on the difference between passive and active VE, intelligent VE is defined as a special type of nonlinear and active VE. The components of intelligent VE are identified and challenges within modeling and rendering method are discussed. Based on a one-dimensional haptic device, a virtual tug-of-war prototype is developed and different rendering algorithms are compared. Experiment results illustrate that the intelligent VE enhance the fidelity of the tug-of-war process and the rendering algorithm could ensure stability of the haptic system. The developed prototype can be utilized in entertainment areas.