Future Haptic Science Encyclopedia: An Experimental Implementation of Networked Multi-Threaded Haptic Virtual Environment

This paper is presenting the design of a generic architecture that can support both haptic and graphic requirements by proposing a multi-layered architecture that can be used in a networked haptic environment. This architecture has been applied to the new five-fingers haptic interface HIRO-II. Future Haptic Science Encyclopedia (FHSE) was developed and presented as a new potential application that benefit greatly from haptic to achieve a new level of realism. The FHSE enables the users to experience many different virtual worlds like scientific, historical, and astronomical worlds. The architecture maintains a high frame rate for haptic control and allows a high degree of independence between haptics and graphics. An evaluation of FHSE and HIRO II is also described.