Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences

Diar Abdlkarim; Devika Mukherjee; Daniele Giunchi; Massimiliano Di Luca; Eyal Ofek

doi:10.1145/3772318.3793143

Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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Abstract

Users of Virtual Reality (VR) primarily sense their environment through audiovisual cues. The lack of haptic feedback on their body can make them unaware of virtual obstacles outside their field of view. This lack of sensing can cause the user to unknowingly penetrate virtual objects, breaking the scene’s plausibility and disrupting the experience of other users in the same virtual space. We propose a haptic belt that increases the user’s scene awareness by rendering signals of collisions and proximity to virtual objects around the user.

In a user study, we show that the belt improves spatial awareness both in a fast, high-stress scenario where the user’s attention is limited and during a relaxed experience where the belt is the only source of information. The belt enables users to move closer to obstacles while reducing unintended collisions.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI '26
Subtitle of host publication	Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Alessandro Bozzon, Thomas Kosch, Vera Liao, Xiaojuan Ma, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo López, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Number of pages	12
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400722783
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3793143
Publication status	Published - 13 Apr 2026
Event	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026: Creant el demà junts - Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Duration: 13 Apr 2026 → 17 Apr 2026 https://chi2026.acm.org/

Publication series

Name	Human factors in computing systems
Publisher	ACM
ISSN (Print)	1062-9432

Conference

Conference	ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026
Abbreviated title	CHI '26
Country/Territory	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	13/04/26 → 17/04/26
Internet address	https://chi2026.acm.org/

Keywords

HCI
haptics
Virtual Reality

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10.1145/3772318.3793143Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

AbdlkarimD2026BeltFinal published version, 9.36 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC BY)

Cite this

Abdlkarim, D., Mukherjee, D., Giunchi, D., Di Luca, M., & Ofek, E. (2026). Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences. In N. Oliver, D. A. Shamma, H. Candello, P. Cesar, P. Lopes, A. Bozzon, T. Kosch, V. Liao, X. Ma, V. Artizzu, F. Draxler, G. López, A. V. Reinschluessel, X. Tong, & P. O. Toups Dugas (Eds.), CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 566 (Human factors in computing systems). Association for Computing Machinery . https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3793143

Abdlkarim, Diar ; Mukherjee, Devika ; Giunchi, Daniele et al. / Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences. CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. editor / Nuria Oliver ; David A. Shamma ; Heloisa Candello ; Pablo Cesar ; Pedro Lopes ; Alessandro Bozzon ; Thomas Kosch ; Vera Liao ; Xiaojuan Ma ; Valentino Artizzu ; Fiona Draxler ; Gustavo López ; Anke V. Reinschluessel ; Xin Tong ; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. Association for Computing Machinery , 2026. (Human factors in computing systems).

@inproceedings{29362c3a94064ae59d14d1ca52234cc7,

title = "Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences",

abstract = "Users of Virtual Reality (VR) primarily sense their environment through audiovisual cues. The lack of haptic feedback on their body can make them unaware of virtual obstacles outside their field of view. This lack of sensing can cause the user to unknowingly penetrate virtual objects, breaking the scene{\textquoteright}s plausibility and disrupting the experience of other users in the same virtual space. We propose a haptic belt that increases the user{\textquoteright}s scene awareness by rendering signals of collisions and proximity to virtual objects around the user. In a user study, we show that the belt improves spatial awareness both in a fast, high-stress scenario where the user{\textquoteright}s attention is limited and during a relaxed experience where the belt is the only source of information. The belt enables users to move closer to obstacles while reducing unintended collisions.",

keywords = "HCI, haptics, Virtual Reality",

author = "Diar Abdlkarim and Devika Mukherjee and Daniele Giunchi and \{Di Luca\}, Massimiliano and Eyal Ofek",

year = "2026",

month = apr,

day = "13",

doi = "10.1145/3772318.3793143",

language = "English",

series = "Human factors in computing systems",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery ",

editor = "Nuria Oliver and Shamma, \{David A.\} and Heloisa Candello and Pablo Cesar and Pedro Lopes and Alessandro Bozzon and Thomas Kosch and Vera Liao and Xiaojuan Ma and Valentino Artizzu and Fiona Draxler and Gustavo L{\'o}pez and Reinschluessel, \{Anke V.\} and Xin Tong and \{Toups Dugas\}, \{Phoebe O.\}",

booktitle = "CHI '26",

note = "ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026 : Creant el dem{\`a} junts, CHI '26 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",

url = "https://chi2026.acm.org/",

}

Abdlkarim, D, Mukherjee, D, Giunchi, D , Di Luca, M & Ofek, E 2026, Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences. in N Oliver, DA Shamma, H Candello, P Cesar, P Lopes, A Bozzon, T Kosch, V Liao, X Ma, V Artizzu, F Draxler, G López, AV Reinschluessel, X Tong & PO Toups Dugas (eds), CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 566, Human factors in computing systems, Association for Computing Machinery , ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026, Barcelona, Spain, 13/04/26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3793143

Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences. / Abdlkarim, Diar; Mukherjee, Devika; Giunchi, Daniele et al.
CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Nuria Oliver; David A. Shamma; Heloisa Candello; Pablo Cesar; Pedro Lopes; Alessandro Bozzon; Thomas Kosch; Vera Liao; Xiaojuan Ma; Valentino Artizzu; Fiona Draxler; Gustavo López; Anke V. Reinschluessel; Xin Tong; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. Association for Computing Machinery , 2026. 566 (Human factors in computing systems).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

TY - GEN

T1 - Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences

AU - Abdlkarim, Diar

AU - Mukherjee, Devika

AU - Giunchi, Daniele

AU - Di Luca, Massimiliano

AU - Ofek, Eyal

PY - 2026/4/13

Y1 - 2026/4/13

N2 - Users of Virtual Reality (VR) primarily sense their environment through audiovisual cues. The lack of haptic feedback on their body can make them unaware of virtual obstacles outside their field of view. This lack of sensing can cause the user to unknowingly penetrate virtual objects, breaking the scene’s plausibility and disrupting the experience of other users in the same virtual space. We propose a haptic belt that increases the user’s scene awareness by rendering signals of collisions and proximity to virtual objects around the user. In a user study, we show that the belt improves spatial awareness both in a fast, high-stress scenario where the user’s attention is limited and during a relaxed experience where the belt is the only source of information. The belt enables users to move closer to obstacles while reducing unintended collisions.

AB - Users of Virtual Reality (VR) primarily sense their environment through audiovisual cues. The lack of haptic feedback on their body can make them unaware of virtual obstacles outside their field of view. This lack of sensing can cause the user to unknowingly penetrate virtual objects, breaking the scene’s plausibility and disrupting the experience of other users in the same virtual space. We propose a haptic belt that increases the user’s scene awareness by rendering signals of collisions and proximity to virtual objects around the user. In a user study, we show that the belt improves spatial awareness both in a fast, high-stress scenario where the user’s attention is limited and during a relaxed experience where the belt is the only source of information. The belt enables users to move closer to obstacles while reducing unintended collisions.

KW - HCI

KW - haptics

KW - Virtual Reality

UR - https://dl.acm.org/conference/chi/proceedings

UR - https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3793143

U2 - 10.1145/3772318.3793143

DO - 10.1145/3772318.3793143

M3 - Conference contribution

T3 - Human factors in computing systems

BT - CHI '26

A2 - Oliver, Nuria

A2 - Shamma, David A.

A2 - Candello, Heloisa

A2 - Cesar, Pablo

A2 - Lopes, Pedro

A2 - Bozzon, Alessandro

A2 - Kosch, Thomas

A2 - Liao, Vera

A2 - Ma, Xiaojuan

A2 - Artizzu, Valentino

A2 - Draxler, Fiona

A2 - López, Gustavo

A2 - Reinschluessel, Anke V.

A2 - Tong, Xin

A2 - Toups Dugas, Phoebe O.

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026

Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 17 April 2026

ER -

Abdlkarim D, Mukherjee D, Giunchi D , Di Luca M , Ofek E. Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences. In Oliver N, Shamma DA, Candello H, Cesar P, Lopes P, Bozzon A, Kosch T, Liao V, Ma X, Artizzu V, Draxler F, López G, Reinschluessel AV, Tong X, Toups Dugas PO, editors, CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery . 2026. 566. (Human factors in computing systems). doi: 10.1145/3772318.3793143

Belt and whistles - adding lower body collision awareness for MR experiences

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