The virtual reality (VR) and human-computer interaction (HCI) combination has radically changed the way users approach a virtual environment, increasing the feeling of VR immersion, and improving the user experience and usability. The evolution of these two technologies led to the focus on VR locomotion and interaction. Locomotion is generally controller-based, but today hand gesture recognition methods were also used for this purpose. However, hand gestures can be stressful for the user who has to keep the gesture activation for a long time to ensure locomotion, especially continuously. Likewise, in Head Mounted Display (HMD)-based virtual environment or Spherical-based system, the use of classic controllers for the 3D scene interaction could be unnatural for the user compared to using hand gestures such \eg pinching to grab 3D objects. To address these issues, we propose a user study comparing the use of the classic controllers (six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) or trackballs) in HMD and spherical-based systems, and the hand tracking and gestures in both VR immersive modes. In particular, we focused on the possible differences between spherical-based systems and HMD in terms of the level of immersion perceived by the user, the mode of user interaction (controller and hands), on the reaction of users concerning usefulness, easiness, and behavioral intention to use.
Technological advances in recent years have promoted the development of virtual reality systems that have a wide variety of hardware and software characteristics, providing varying degrees of immersion. Immersion is an objective property of the virtual reality system that depends on both its hardware and software characteristics. Virtual reality systems are currently attempting to improve immersion as much as possible. However, there is no metric to measure the level of immersion of a virtual reality system based on its characteristics. To date, the influence of these hardware and software var…
When working with emergent and appealing technologies as Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality and Augmented Reality, the issue of definitions appear very often. Indeed, our experience with various publics allows us to notice that technology definitions pose ambiguity and representation problems for informed as well as novice users. In this paper we present Immercity, a content curation system designed in the context of a collaboration between the University of Montpellier and CapGemi-ni, to deliver a technology watch. It is also used as a testbed for our experiences with Virtual, Mixed and Augmented…
In this paper, we review the background of physical reality, virtual reality, and some traditional mixed forms of them. Based on the current knowledge, we propose a new unified concept called symmetrical reality to describe the physical and virtual world in a unified perspective. Under the framework of symmetrical reality, the traditional virtual reality, augmented reality, inverse virtual reality, and inverse augmented reality can be interpreted using a unified presentation. We analyze the characteristics of symmetrical reality from two different observation locations (i.e., from the physical…
We propose a framework called inverse augmented reality (IAR) which describes the scenario that a virtual agent living in the virtual world can observe both virtual objects and real objects. This is different from the traditional augmented reality. The traditional virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality are all generated for humans, i.e., they are human-centered frameworks. On the contrary, the proposed inverse augmented reality is a virtual agent-centered framework, which represents and analyzes the reality from a virtual agent's perspective. In this paper, we elaborate the frame…
When establishing a visual connection between a virtual reality user and an augmented reality user, it is important to consider whether the augmented reality user faces a surplus of information. Augmented reality, compared to virtual reality, involves two, not one, planes of information: the physical and the virtual. We propose SelectVisAR, a selective visualisation system of virtual environments in augmented reality. Our system enables an augmented reality spectator to perceive a co-located virtual reality user in the context of four distinct visualisation conditions: Interactive, Proximity, …
Volume Rendering applications require sophisticated user interaction for the definition and refinement of transfer functions. Traditional 2D desktop user interface elements have been developed to solve this task, but such concepts do not map well to the interaction devices available in Virtual Reality environments. In this paper, we propose an intuitive user interface for Volume Rendering specifically designed for Virtual Reality environments. The proposed interface allows transfer function design and refinement based on intuitive two-handed operation of Wand-like controllers. Additional inter…
This work introduces RadVR, a virtual reality tool for daylighting analysis that simultaneously combines qualitative assessments through immersive real-time renderings with quantitative physically correct daylighting simulations in a 6DOF virtual environment. By taking a 3D building model with material properties as input, RadVR allows users to (1) perform physically-based daylighting simulations via Radiance, (2) study sunlight in different hours-of-the-year, (3) interact with a 9-point-in-time matrix for the most representative times of the year, and (4) visualize, compare, and analyze dayli…
The cognitive load can be used to assess if someone is struggling while performing a task. It can be used in many different situations such as in driving, piloting, studying, playing, working, etc. This information can help to design better systems and even to create interactive systems that can be aware of the user's cognitive load and adapt itself to the user. We propose an open source platform that can be used for doing research about cognitive load in virtual reality (VR). Our platform can be used for stimulating cognitive load through several VR scenes and for analyzing cognitive load thr…
This essay, written in 1998 by an active participant in both virtual reality development and the virtual reality definition debate, discusses the definition of the phrase "Virtual Reality" (VR). I start with history from a personal perspective, concentrating on the debate between the "Virtual Reality" and "Virtual Environment" labels in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Definitions of VR based on specific technologies are shown to be unsatisfactory. I propose the following definition of VR, based on the striking effects of a good VR system: "Virtual Reality is the use of computer technology to…
The increasing prevalence of Virtual Reality technologies as a platform for gaming and video playback warrants research into how to best apply the current state of the art to challenges in data visualization. Many current VR systems are noncollaborative, while data analysis and visualization is often a multi-person process. Our goal in this paper is to address the technical and user experience challenges that arise when creating VR environments for collaborative data visualization. We focus on the integration of multiple tracking systems and the new interaction paradigms that this integration …
Working in complex industrial facilities requires spatial navigation skills that people build up with time and field experience. Training sessions consisting in guided tours help discover places but they are insufficient to become intimately familiar with their layout. They imply passive learning postures, are time-limited and can be experienced only once because of organization constraints and potential interferences with ongoing activities in the buildings. To overcome these limitations and improve the acquisition of navigation skills, we developed Indy, a virtual reality system consisting i…
This paper proposes the concept of "live-action virtual reality games" as a new genre of digital games based on an innovative combination of live-action, mixed-reality, context-awareness, and interaction paradigms that comprise tangible objects, context-aware input devices, and embedded/embodied interactions. Live-action virtual reality games are "live-action games" because a player physically acts out (using his/her real body and senses) his/her "avatar" (his/her virtual representation) in the game stage, which is the mixed-reality environment where the game happens. The game stage is a kind …
The contributions of this paper are: (1) a taxonomy of the "Realities" (Virtual, Augmented, Mixed, Mediated, etc.), and (2) some new kinds of "reality" that come from nature itself, i.e. that expand our notion beyond synthetic realities to include also phenomenological realities. VR (Virtual Reality) replaces the real world with a simulated experience (virtual world). AR (Augmented Reality) allows a virtual world to be experienced while also experiencing the real world at the same time. Mixed Reality provides blends that interpolate between real and virtual worlds in various proportions, along…
A driving simulator was created using commercially available 3 degree of freedom motion platform (DOFreality H3) and a virtual reality head-mounted display (Oculus CV1). Using virtual reality headset as the visual simulation system with low-cost moving base platform allowed us to create a high-fidelity driving simulator with minimal cost and space. A custom motion cueing algorithm was used to minimize visuo-vestibular conflict, and simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ) was used to measure progression of simulator sickness over time while driving on a highway environment.
Navigating spaces is an embodied experience. Examples can vary from rescue workers trying to save people from natural disasters; a tourist finding their way to the nearest coffee shop, or a gamer solving a maze. Virtual reality allows these experiences to be simulated in a controlled virtual environment. However, virtual reality users remain anchored in the real world and the conventions by which the virtual environment is deployed influence user performance. There is currently a need to evaluate the degree of influence imposed by extrinsic factors and virtual reality hardware on its users. Tr…
Near distances are overestimated in virtual reality, and far distances are underestimated, but an explanation for these distortions remains elusive. One potential concern is that whilst the eye rotates to look at the virtual scene, the virtual cameras remain static. Could using eye-tracking to change the perspective of the virtual cameras as the eye rotates improve depth perception in virtual reality? This paper identifies 14 distinct perspective distortions that could in theory occur from keeping the virtual cameras fixed whilst the eye rotates in the context of near-eye displays. However, th…
Interactive fiction is a literary genre that is rapidly gaining popularity. In this genre, readers are able to explicitly take actions in order to guide the course of the story. With the recent popularity of narrative focused games, we propose to design and develop an interactive narrative tool for content creators. In this extended abstract, we show how we leverage this interactive medium to present a tool for interactive storytelling in virtual reality. Using a simple markup language, content creators and researchers are now able to create interactive narratives in a virtual reality environm…
Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学）；University of Washington（华盛顿大学）
This paper proposed a new interaction paradigm in the virtual reality (VR) environments, which consists of a virtual mirror or window projected onto a virtual surface, representing the correct perspective geometry of a mirror or window reflecting the real world. This technique can be applied to various videos, live streaming apps, augmented and virtual reality settings to provide an interactive and immersive user experience. To support such a perspective-accurate representation, we implemented computer vision algorithms for feature detection and correspondence matching. To constrain the soluti…
Virtual Reality enables the exploration of large information spaces. In physically constrained spaces such as airplanes or buses, controller-based or mid-air interaction in mobile Virtual Reality can be challenging. Instead, the input space on and above touch-screen enabled devices such as smartphones or tablets could be employed for Virtual Reality interaction in those spaces. In this context, we compared an above surface interaction technique with traditional 2D on-surface input for navigating large planar information spaces such as maps in a controlled user study (n = 20). We find that our …
We propose a new approach for interaction in Virtual Reality (VR) using mobile robots as proxies for haptic feedback. This approach allows VR users to have the experience of sharing and manipulating tangible physical objects with remote collaborators. Because participants do not directly observe the robotic proxies, the mapping between them and the virtual objects is not required to be direct. In this paper, we describe our implementation, various scenarios for interaction, and a preliminary user study.
This is the preprint version of our paper on ICWL2015. A virtual reality based enhanced technology for learning primary geography is proposed, which synthesizes several latest information technologies including virtual reality(VR), 3D geographical information system(GIS), 3D visualization and multimodal human-computer-interaction (HCI). The main functions of the proposed system are introduced, i.e. Buffer analysis, Overlay analysis, Space convex hull calculation, Space convex decomposition, 3D topology analysis and 3D space intersection detection. The multimodal technologies are employed in th…
Environmental citizen science frequently relies on experience-based assessment, however volunteers are not trained to make qualitative judgments. Embodied learning in virtual reality (VR) has been explored as a way to train behavior, but has not fully been considered as a way to train judgment. This preliminary research explores embodied learning in VR through the design, evaluation, and redesign of StreamBED, a water quality monitoring training environment that teaches volunteers to make qualitative assessments by exploring, assessing and comparing virtual watersheds.
This workshop paper presents two proxy objects for high fidelity interaction in virtual reality (VR): a paper map and a smartphone. We showcase how our virtual paper map can increase interactivity and orientation, while our virtual smartphone extends the use of a proxy object, as it allows for actual touch input on a real phone leading to an almost infinite set of possible (inter-)actions (e.g. snapping pictures in the virtual world). Observations showed that participants were very precise in holding and interacting with both the paper map and the smartphone even though they did not see their …
Oculus rift: Virtual reality (VR) is a burgeoning field that has the inherent potential of manipulating peoples mind with a superlative 3D experience. Oculus rift is one such application that assists in achieving the same. With the fleeting enhancements in VR it now seems very feasible to provide the user with experiences that were earlier thought to be merely a dream or a nightmare.
In this article we describe Hack.VR, an object-oriented programming game in virtual reality. Hack.VR uses a VR programming language in which nodes represent functions and node connections represent data flow. Using this programming framework, players reprogram VR objects such as elevators, robots, and switches. Hack.VR has been designed to be highly interactable both physically and semantically.
Virtual reality offers the unique possibility to experience a virtual representation as our own body. In contrast to previous research that predominantly studied this phenomenon for humanoid avatars, our work focuses on virtual animals. In this paper, we discuss different body tracking approaches to control creatures such as spiders or bats and the respective virtual body ownership effects. Our empirical results demonstrate that virtual body ownership is also applicable for nonhumanoids and can even outperform human-like avatars in certain cases. An additional survey confirms the general inter…
This paper presents I-nteract, a cyber-physical system that enables real-time interaction with real and virtual objects in a mixed augmented reality environment to design 3D models for additive manufacturing. The system has been developed using mixed reality technologies such as HoloLens, for augmenting visual feedback, and haptic gloves, for augmenting haptic force feedback. The efficacy of the system has been demonstrated by generating 3D model using a novel scanning method to 3D print a customized orthopedic cast for human arm, by estimating spring rates of compression springs, and by simul…
We created a hand texture resource (with different skin tone versions as well as non-human hands) for use in virtual reality studies. This makes it easier to run lab and remote studies where the hand representation is matched to the participant's own skin tone. We validate that the virtual hands with our textures align with participants view of their own real hands and allow to create VR applications where participants have an increased sense of body ownership. These properties are critical for a range of VR studies, such as of immersion.
Facing the severe global dementia problem, an exploration was conducted adopting the technology of virtual reality (VR). This report lays a technical foundation for further research project "Early Detection of Dementia Using Testing Tools in VR Environment", which illustrates the process of developing a VR application using Unity 3D software on Oculus Go. This preliminary exploration is composed of three steps, including 3D virtual scene construction, VR interaction design and monitoring. The exploration was recorded to provide basic technical guidance and detailed method for subsequent resear…
Thanks to the eye-tracking sensors that are embedded in emerging consumer devices like the Vive Pro Eye, we demonstrate that it is feasible to deliver user authentication via eye movement biometrics.
Brown Ring Experiment is a very popular test to detect the presence of Nitrate in salts commonly performed in chemical laboratories with supplies of required chemicals. Our work clears out the need for a chemical laboratory and chemicals in order to understand the experiment practically. We have used the technology of Virtual Reality to fulfill this requirement. Our research work can be extensively utilized to create virtual environments for conducting other chemical processes in a virtual environment hence, eliminating the need for a chemical laboratory. This can help students in remote areas…
Virtual Reality (VR) technology has been shown to achieve remarkable results in multiple fields. Due to the nature of the immersive medium of Virtual Reality it logically follows that it can be used as a high-quality educational tool as it offers potentially a higher bandwidth than other mediums such as text, pictures and videos. This short paper illustrates the development of a climate change educational awareness application for virtual reality to simulate virtual scenes of local scenery and sea level rising until 2100 using prediction data. The paper also reports on the current in progress …
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill（北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校）；Colorado School of Mines（科罗拉多矿业学院）；IBM Research AI（IBM人工智能研究院）
Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality for Human-Robot Interaction (VAM-HRI) has been gaining considerable attention in research in recent years. However, the HRI community lacks a set of shared terminology and framework for characterizing aspects of mixed reality interfaces, presenting serious problems for future research. Therefore, it is important to have a common set of terms and concepts that can be used to precisely describe and organize the diverse array of work being done within the field. In this paper, we present a novel taxonomic framework for different types of VAM-HRI interfaces, c…
We present PhyShare, a new haptic user interface based on actuated robots. Virtual reality has recently been gaining wide adoption, and an effective haptic feedback in these scenarios can strongly support user's sensory in bridging virtual and physical world. Since participants do not directly observe these robotic proxies, we investigate the multiple mappings between physical robots and virtual proxies that can utilize the resources needed to provide a well rounded VR experience. PhyShare bots can act either as directly touchable objects or invisible carriers of physical objects, depending on…
In this position paper, we outline our research challenges in Affective Interactive Systems, and present recent work on visualizing avatar biosignals for social VR entertainment. We highlight considerations for how biosignals animations in social VR spaces can (falsely) indicate users' availability status.
This paper presents and analyses existing taxonomies of virtual and augmented reality and demonstrates knowledge gaps and mixed terminology which may cause confusion among educators, researchers, and developers. Several such occasions of confusion are presented. A methodology is then presented to construct a taxonomy of virtual reality and augmented reality applications based on a combination of: a faceted analysis approach for the overall design of the taxonomy; an existing taxonomy of educational objectives to derive the educational purpose; an information systems analysis to establish impor…
We present an IoT home network visualizer that utilizes virtual reality (VR). This prototype demonstrates the potential that VR has to aid in the understanding of home IoT networks. This is particularly important due the increased number of household devices now connected to the Internet. This prototype is able to function in a standard display or a VR headset. A prototype was developed to aid in the understanding of home IoT networks for homeowners.
Virtual Reality (VR) provides immersive experiences in the virtual world, but it may reduce users' awareness of physical surroundings and cause safety concerns and psychological discomfort. Hence, there is a need of an ambient information design to increase users' situational awareness (SA) of physical elements when they are immersed in VR environment. This is challenging, since there is a tradeoff between the awareness in reality and the interference with users' experience in virtuality. In this paper, we design five representations (indexical, symbolic, and iconic with three emotions) based …
Virtual and augmented reality communication platforms are seen as promising modalities for next-generation remote face-to-face interactions. Our study attempts to explore non-verbal communication features in relation to their conversation context for virtual and augmented reality mediated communication settings. We perform a series of user experiments, triggering nine conversation tasks in 4 settings, each containing corresponding non-verbal communication features. Our results indicate that conversation types which involve less emotional engagement are more likely to be acceptable in virtual r…
Objectives: This paper presents an up-to-date overview of research performed in the Virtual Reality (VR) environment ranging from definitions, its presence in the various fields, and existing market players and their projects in the VR technology. Further an attempt is made to gain an insight on the psychological mechanism underlying experience in using VR device. Methods: Our literature survey is based on the research articles, analysis of the projects of various companies and their findings for different areas of interest. Findings: In our literature survey we observed that the recent advanc…
Meditation, or mindfulness, is widely used to improve mental health. With the emergence of Virtual Reality technology, many studies have provided evidence that meditation with VR can bring health benefits. However, to our knowledge, there are no guidelines and comprehensive reviews in the literature on how to conduct such research in virtual reality. In order to understand the role of VR technology in meditation and future research opportunities, we conducted a systematic literature review in the IEEE and ACM databases. Our process yielded 19 eligible papers and we conducted a structured analy…
In this paper, we describe the development and operating principles of an immersive virtual reality (VR) visualisation environment that is designed around the use of consumer VR headsets in an existing wide area motion capture suite. We present two case studies in the application areas of visualisation of scientific and engineering data. Each of these case studies utilise a different render engine, namely a custom engine for one case and a commercial game engine for the other. The advantages and appropriateness of each approach are discussed along with suggestions for future work.
In recent years there has been a strong development of the concept of virtual reality (VR) which from the first video games developed in the 60s has reached the current immersive systems. VR and the consequent deception of perception pose an interesting question: is it possible to deceive the mind to the point of not being able to recognize whether the perceived reality is real or simulated? In addition to this question, another question arises spontaneously: is it possible to simulate a non-reality in which the physical laws do not apply? The answer to the first question is that it would theo…
In this paper we introduce novel Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) treatments to improve the psychological well being of patients in palliative care, based on interviews with a clinical psychologist who has successfully implemented VR assisted interventions on palliative care patients in the Hong Kong hospital system. Our VR and AR assisted interventions are adaptations of traditional palliative care therapies which simultaneously facilitate patients communication with family and friends while isolated in hospital due to physical weakness and COVID-19 related restrictions. The fi…
Bionic vision is a rapidly advancing field aimed at developing visual neuroprostheses ('bionic eyes') to restore useful vision to people who are blind. However, a major outstanding challenge is predicting what people 'see' when they use their devices. The limited field of view of current devices necessitates head movements to scan the scene, which is difficult to simulate on a computer screen. In addition, many computational models of bionic vision lack biological realism. To address these challenges, we propose to embed biologically realistic models of simulated prosthetic vision (SPV) in imm…
