Compact haptic and augmented virtual reality system

A compact haptic and augmented virtual reality system, the system comprising:

• a physical desktop workspace arranged by a housing that is open on one side, the physical desktop workspace being configured for comfortably positioning a user's head and hands with respect to the system;
• head and hand tracking devices to track head and hand movements of a user;
• a high-resolution display screen positioned by the housing above a position of the user's head and facing a partially transparent mirror, the partially transparent mirror being positioned by the housing below the position of the user's head;
• a haptic touch device positioned below the partially transparent mirror in a position to permit the user to see both the virtual reality display and the user's hands when the user's hands are placed below the mirror to use the haptic touch device and the user's head is positioned above the mirror to view an augmented reality environment that integrates the user's hands with virtual 3d models in the physical desktop workspace;
• and
• a software library that provides, in real time, a high level layer that encapsulates the rendering of a scene graph on the display screen, the stereoscopic vision interface, the handling of the hand and head tracking devices, and an interface with the haptic touch interface.