{"ID":2844998,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.05379","arxiv_id":"2511.05379","title":"ETHOS: A Robotic Encountered-Type Haptic Display for Social Interaction in Virtual Reality","abstract":"We present ETHOS (Encountered-Type Haptics for On-demand Social Interaction), a dynamic encountered-type haptic display (ETHD) that enables natural physical contact in virtual reality (VR) during social interactions such as handovers, fist bumps, and high-fives. The system integrates a torque-controlled robotic manipulator with interchangeable passive props (silicone hand replicas and a baton), marker-based physical-virtual registration via a ChArUco board, and a safety monitor that gates motion based on the user's head and hand pose. We introduce two control strategies: (i) a static mode that presents a stationary prop aligned with its virtual counterpart, consistent with prior ETHD baselines, and (ii) a dynamic mode that continuously updates prop position by exponentially blending an initial mid-point trajectory with real-time hand tracking, generating a unique contact point for each interaction. Bench tests show static colocation accuracy of 5.09 +/- 0.94 mm, while user interactions achieved temporal alignment with an average contact latency of 28.53 +/- 31.21 ms across all interaction and control conditions. These results demonstrate the feasibility of recreating socially meaningful haptics in VR. By incorporating essential safety and control mechanisms, ETHOS establishes a practical foundation for high-fidelity, dynamic interpersonal interactions in virtual environments.","short_abstract":"We present ETHOS (Encountered-Type Haptics for On-demand Social Interaction), a dynamic encountered-type haptic display (ETHD) that enables natural physical contact in virtual reality (VR) during social interactions such as handovers, fist bumps, and high-fives. The system integrates a torque-controlled robotic manipul...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.05379","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.05379v2","authors":"[\"Eric Godden\",\"Jacquie Groenewegen\",\"Matthew K. X. J. Pan\"]","published":"2025-11-07T16:01:49Z","proceeding":"cs.RO","tasks":"[\"cs.RO\",\"eess.SY\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}