Collision and impact force computation for virtual reality applications

This paper is concerned with the accurate detection of collision and the resulting impact force between the model of a person's hand and a static or moving object. The objective is to provide accurate feedback of touch in virtual reality applications. The methods described and evaluated use a combination of bounding sphere and recursive subdivision of the bounding box techniques to detect accurately when and where a collision occurs on the hand. The impact force of the collision is calculated using the geometry of the impact area and application of Newton's law. The methods are verified using a novel prototype of a hand controlled by a six degrees of freedom tracker glove and ball. The ball and hand can collide either by the ball hitting the hand, the hand hitting the ball or both. When inexpensive accurate touch transducers become available to complement the 3D body position input devices, many innovative applications can be realized by applying these methods.