Impact of Physical Tool Designs on User Embodiment of Tools in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) users typically interact with the virtual world in two main ways: through the hand-held controller or body motion tracking. With the development of tracker technique, it is a promising direction for designers and developers to enrich the interaction by adding more possibilities to physical tool designs combined with the tracker in VR. The virtual representation of the tool can be varied in VR applications, but the real-time haptic interaction that physical tools provide is usually limited. Little is known about users’ embodied perception of the tool in VR, and research has not yet determined how different physical tool designs affect users’ sense of tool embodiment. This research explores the effect of physical tools on tool embodiment in VR. Six physical tools with different hand grasping gestures were designed and applied in the experiment of the user study. The findings reveal that one physical tool significantly differed from the virtual representation was rated the lowest self-reported tool embodiment and negative feedback from users. This study offers the design recommendation for physical tools with trackers for VR applications and expands existing research on tool embodiment.