Virtual Encounters of the Haptic Kind: Towards a Multi-User VR System for Real-Time Social Touch

Physical touch, a fundamental aspect of human social interaction, remains largely absent in real-time virtual communication. We present a haptic-enabled multi-user Virtual Reality (VR) system that facilitates real-time, bi-directional social touch communication among physically distant users. We developed wearable gloves and forearm sleeves, embedded with 26 vibrotactile actuators for each hand and arm, actuated via a WiFi-based communication system. The system enables VR-transmitted data to be universally interpreted by haptic devices, allowing feedback rendering based on their capabilities. Users can perform and receive social touch gestures such as stroke, pat, poke, and squeeze, with other users within a shared virtual space or interact with other virtual objects, and they receive vibrotactile feedback. Through a two-part user study involving six pairs of participants, we investigate the impact of gesture speed, haptic feedback modality, and user roles, during real-time haptic communication in VR, on affective and sensory experiences, as well as evaluate the overall system usability. Our findings highlight key design considerations that significantly improve affective experiences, presence, embodiment, pleasantness, and naturalness, to foster more immersive and expressive mediated social touch experiences in VR.