Visual interpenetration tradeoffs in whole-hand virtual grasping

We present the first experiment on tradeoffs involving visual interpenetration in whole-hand virtual grasping, with new findings that contrast prior interpenetration research and provide a stronger understanding of user behavior and beliefs. Most notably, preventing interpenetration reduced performance by increasing real hand closure and reducing release precision. Nonetheless, most users subjectively prefer interpenetration to be prevented and even expect this to perform better. Although reduced closure and true representation of real hand pose might help users anticipate a grasp release moment more precisely, most subjects believed release moment was better anticipated with virtual fingers constrained to object surfaces. Finally, we suggest how grasping techniques can resolve the tradeoffs.