Preservation of Cultural Heritage Using Virtual Reality Technologies and Haptic Feedback: A Prototype and Case Study on Antique Carpentry Tools

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Overall, the publication is well-written, organized, and easy to follow, although some improvements can be made (see below for details). Besides, I believe the authors display a lot of work, combining multidisciplinary areas.

 

Regardless, one of my major concerns is the title: '.... using VR technologies'. Although VR is mentioned, I believe the predominant contribution of the publication is not the use of VR, but the haptic solution proposed. As such, I must recommend that the title is changed to reflect this matter. 

Something along the line of: "Preservation of cultural heritage using Virtual Reality technologies and haptic feedback: A prototype and case study onantique carpentry tools".

 

Abstract:

Virtual Reality (VR) is not mentioned in the abstract, although being highlighted in the title. This must be revised. I recommend adding a mention of this technology and how it fits with the proposed solution. At least, mentioning virtual environments. In addition, I suggest mentioning that a user study was conducted, stating the number of participants, and the study goals. If possible, one or two lines with the most important results.

 

 

Introduction 

My major concern is the fact that few references are used. This should be improved. Although I can understand the author's justification early on, additional references on cultural heritage and VR can be easily found and added accordingly. In fact, VR only has a small mention. Given that this domain is emphasized in the title, I believe additional details on the use of VR for cultural heritage must be given. What has been explored so far? What are the advantages of using such technologies? How does this combine with haptic feedback

Furthermore, a paragraph clearly stating what are the contributions of the publication should be present at the end of the section. In this vein, it is also important to add a paragraph describing the structure of the publication.

 

Background knowledge

Again, a reduced number of references is used. I would suggest revisiting this topic. In particular, adding additional literature on Cultural Heritage, and the use of VR for such scenarios.

If possible, studies that have combined VR and haptics, even if not in this domain, given that they could provide the ground to support why using VR is a relevant research opportunity. 

The end of lines 130 and 150 really must have references to support the sentences made.

I believe a final sub-section named 'summary' or 'opportunities', clearly stating what are the challenges that need to be addressed and justifying the need of combining VR and haptics would be a nice add-on to finish this section.

 

 

Kinematics and dynamics of the saw handle:

I would recommend adding a paragraph explaining what will be addressed in section 3, similar to the approach used in section 4.

Moreover, the caption of Figures 1, 2, and 6 could be improved with further detail to facilitate readers' understanding.

 

 

CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION OF HAPTIC EQUIPMENT

Please fix the fact that the title is all UPPERCASE. 

In 4.3, additional details regarding the construction of the Virtual Environment should be added. Namely, what game engine or similar was used to develop the proposed interface. Unity, other? What where the 3D modeling software? Blender, other?

Similar to the previous section, the caption of Figures 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 could be improved with further detail to facilitate readers' understanding. In particular, figure 16 should mention the virtual environment and not VR, or at least, the fact that a non-immersive VR experience was used.

 

 

User Study:

This section could benefit from having a better structure, in particular, having information divided by: Experimental Setup, Experimental Design, Task, Measurements/Data Collection, Procedure, Participants, 

Plus, I would separate the information presented. After line 536 I would introduce a new section called: 'Results and Discussion'. Here, I would divide the information according to the topics of each radar chart. Then, it would also be relevant to mention:

- the duration of the tasks.

- what were the insights from talking with participants, besides the answers to the questionnaires?

- What ideas and suggestions were given?

- what are the next steps after the feedback collected from the study?

Small detail, line 532 - explain the scale of 1-7, some readers may not be familiar with it.

 

Conclusions:

IMHO, the conclusions are too big. These should be re-written. In particular, I would like to have less detail on the context and what was proposed, and more information on the main insights from the methodology applied and the study results. I would also remove the use of bullets from the inclusion, instead, this approach can be used in a 'Results and discussion section.

Also important, there is no mention of future work. Please add one paragraph including ideas for the next steps, to help guide the research community. In particular, I would like to see mentioned the creation of a better Virtual Environment, and also the integration of VR headsets to improve immersion in the experience. This will also lead to new studies.

 

Acknowledgments:

I would suggest also mentioning the study participants and other individuals that may have contributed to the overall research with their time and expertise. 

 

References:

As mentioned before, there is a reduced number of references. I suggest adding more publications, in particular regarding VR.

 

 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The field of cultural heritage preservation have been largely explored using VR and AR for a lot of years. Preservation of know-how and practical knowledge is also a real issue available in a lot of technical domain and human activity types. Both topics of interest can be merged as handicrafts can be considered as a part of popular culture.

 

The system proposed in this paper involves the use of dedicated haptic devices, which are not generic, being designed from the beginning for specific applications linked to sawing wood. 

 

Technical descriptions of homemade measuring and haptic devices and their use in experiment are well detailed and fitted to allows people to develop new VR applications including haptic devices. Thus, the presented work can be very useful for researchers developing Virtual (augmented) environments in the manufacturing or maintenance context for ergonomic studies or for human learning / training.

 

Remarks/questions:

Why reference to patents instead of papers illustrating VR experiences using haptic devices generic vs specific? Even if this provides the reader some technical information, there is no link to real use experimentation, as given by other references.

Even if it can be useful to provide easily access to cited papers by giving direct links, as they can be broken, it would be better to keep the classic way to present references, and link can remain, as additional information.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Overall, I'm happy with the changes made to the manuscript, following previous suggestions.