The PHANToM used without visual guidance.

The use of a PHANToM without visual guidance, as by blind people, means a heavier load on haptics. The aim of the paper was to compare accuracy and speed in identifying small virtual 3D objects explored with the PHANToM and analogous real objects explored naturally. The results for virtual objects were far from the results for real objects, which indicates that there is a large potential for improvements including training in the use of the specific exploration methods.