Vibrations in dynamic driving simulator: Study and implementation

This paper shows the effect of adding vibrations in a car cabin during driving simulation on driver perception. Actually, current dynamic driving simulators induce the simulator sickness and it still difficult for the driver to project himself in the virtual reality due to a lack of perception. To know the effect of vibrations on a subject, the effect of the whole body vibration must be defined, as the sources of vibration in a car cabin. After determining all the parameters we propose to determine a formula to produce the vibrations in function of the car state, the road and the boundary conditions. Then experimentation with nine subjects is done to define the exact effect of the vibrations and the new perception of the road in the simulation. In order to do these experimentations, three actuators were installed inside the cabin of the car driving simulator from Institut Image – Arts et Metiers ParisTech

Evaluation of virtual reality snowplow simulation training

The effectiveness of virtual reality snowplow simulator training for current Iowa Department of Transportation employees was examined. Operators received approximately two hours of training, which included several drives in a driving simulator designed to emulate a snowplow. Performance on a test scenario was compared for operators who had received this training versus those who were trained after the test scenario. Participants also completed a variety of personality and training questionnaires designed to measure personality tendencies, as well as their opinions of training and the realism of the simulator. Responses to these questionnaires were generally positive: operators reported that the features of the simulator mimicked those of a real snowplow, and that they enjoyed all aspects of training. Moreover, several performance differences (e.g., number of collisions, average speed and fuel consumption) were found between trained and untrained operators. They suggest that snowplow simulator training improved the driving performance of trained operators

How does Simulation-based Testing for Self-driving Cars match Human Perception?

Software metrics such as coverage and mutation scores have been extensively explored for the automated quality assessment of test suites. While traditional tools rely on such quantifiable software metrics, the field of self-driving cars (SDCs) has primarily focused on simulation-based test case generation using quality metrics such as the out-of-bound (OOB) parameter to determine if a test case fails or passes. However, it remains unclear to what extent this quality metric aligns with the human perception of the safety and realism of SDCs, which are critical aspects in assessing SDC behavior. To address this gap, we conducted an empirical study involving 50 participants to investigate the factors that determine how humans perceive SDC test cases as safe, unsafe, realistic, or unrealistic. To this aim, we developed a framework leveraging virtual reality (VR) technologies, called SDC-Alabaster, to immerse the study participants into the virtual environment of SDC simulators. Our findings indicate that the human assessment of the safety and realism of failing and passing test cases can vary based on different factors, such as the test's complexity and the possibility of interacting with the SDC. Especially for the assessment of realism, the participants' age as a confounding factor leads to a different perception. This study highlights the need for more research on SDC simulation testing quality metrics and the importance of human perception in evaluating SDC behavior

Media Presence and Inner Presence: The Sense of Presence in Virtual Reality Technologies

Abstract. Presence is widely accepted as the key concept to be considered in any research involving human interaction with Virtual Reality (VR). Since its original description, the concept of presence has developed over the past decade to be considered by many researchers as the essence of any experience in a virtual environment. The VR generating systems comprise two main parts: a technological component and a psychological experience. The different relevance given to them produced two different but coexisting visions of presence: the rationalist and the psychological/ecological points of view. The rationalist point of view considers a VR system as a collection of specific machines with the necessity of the inclusion \ud of the concept of presence. The researchers agreeing with this approach describe the sense of presence as a function of the experience of a given medium (Media Presence). The main result of this approach is the definition of presence as the perceptual illusion of non-mediation produced by means of the disappearance of the medium from the conscious attention of the subject. At the other extreme, there \ud is the psychological or ecological perspective (Inner Presence). Specifically, this perspective considers presence as a neuropsychological phenomenon, evolved from the interplay of our biological and cultural inheritance, whose goal is the control of the human activity. \ud Given its key role and the rate at which new approaches to understanding and examining presence are appearing, this chapter draws together current research on presence to provide an up to date overview of the most widely accepted approaches to its understanding and measurement

Predicting the efficacy of simulator-based training using a perceptual judgment task versus questionnaire-based measures of presence

The quality of a virtual environment, as characterized by factors such as presence and fidelity, is of interest to developers and users of simulators for many reasons, not least because both factors have been linked to improved outcomes in training as well as a reduced incidence of simulator sickness. Until recently, most approaches to measuring these factors have been based on subjective, postexposure questioning. This approach has, however, been criticized because of the shortcomings of self-report and the need to delay feedback or interrupt activity. To combat these problems, recent papers on the topic have proposed the use of behavioral measures to assess simulators and predict training outcomes. Following their lead, this paper makes use of a simple perceptual task in which users are asked to estimate their simulated speed within the environment. A longitudinal study of training outcomes using two of the simulators revealed systematic differences in task performance that matched differences measured using the perceptual task in a separate group of control subjects. A separate analysis of two standard presence questionnaires revealed that they were able to predict learning outcomes on a per individual basis, but that they were insensitive to the differences between the two simulators. The paper concludes by explaining how behavioral measures of the type proposed here can complement questionnaire-based studies, helping to motivate design aspects of new simulators, prompting changes to existing systems, and constraining training scenarios to maximize their efficacy

OLDER DRIVER SIMULATOR BASED INTERSECTION TRAINING: THE EVALUATION OF TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS AND SIMULATOR SICKNESS

Older drivers are over involved in intersection crashes. The evidence to date suggests that this is primarily because they fail to look for potential threat vehicles after they enter a stop-controlled intersection. These secondary glances are absolutely critical when the built or natural environment obscures such vehicles while the driver is stopped before entering the intersection. Simulator-based older driver training programs exist which double the frequency of secondary glances that older drivers take up to two years after training. However, almost 40% of those who participate in such training never finish because of Simulator Adaptation Syndrome (SAS, or “simulator sickness”). Two factors are believed to contribute to the high simulator sickness rates: 1) the relatively high immersion at each point in time and 2) the relatively long period of time over which the training occurs in the simulator. In this experiment, simulator micro-scenarios were designed to train older drivers to take secondary looks. These micro-scenarios take no more than 30 to 45 seconds to complete and are much shorter than the 20 minute training programs now available. In addition, level of immersion was varied, from relatively low (the virtual world was projected onto three 22\u27\u27 diagonal LCD monitors) to medium (the virtual world was projected onto one to three 60\u27\u27 screens). A total of five groups of older drivers (91 total between the ages of 67 and 86) were run in the experiment. Three of the groups were given active, secondary glance training on a driving simulator -- one on a low-immersion simulator and two on a medium-immersion simulator (one group utilized all three screens and one group utilized only one screen) -- one of the groups was given passive, secondary glance training using a PowerPoint presentation and one of the groups received no training at all, control group. After the training was delivered participants in all five groups were evaluated in the field while driving alone in their own vehicle as they wore a head mounted camera. Secondary glances were recorded from the videos of the drives captured by the camera. The simulator training dropout rate was reduced radically from what has been reported in the literature (roughly 40%), to 14.3% in the three screen medium-immersion simulator, 6.3% in the one screen medium-immersion simulator and 11.8% in the low-immersion simulator. The percentage of secondary glances in the field increased significantly for the group given active, 3-screen medium-immersion simulator training (82%) above those given passive, PowerPoint training (69%) and those who received no training, control group (42%). There was no statistically significant difference between the group given active, low-immersion simulator training (74%) and the group given passive, PowerPoint training; however, statically significance exists between the three active training groups and the 1-screen medium immersion simulator training (58%). It is clear that the design of micro-scenarios in a lower immersion environment decreased simulator sickness and increased the frequency of secondary glances

A virtual reality game for cognitive impairment screening in the elderly: a user perspective

Today, there are 50 million people who have dementia worldwide, that is a new case every3 seconds and more than 152 million cases expected in 2050. Aging-related morbidity is a real social problem making screening a significant challenge. Early diagnosis and management would improve the quality of life offered to the patient and those around him and reduce the economic and social consequences of dementia. The traditional paper-and-pencil approach does not sufficiently reflect the daily reality of the person and what they can accomplish. So, we designed our own VR environment as a candidate solution to the problem

From presence to consciousness through virtual reality

Immersive virtual environments can break the deep, everyday connection between where our senses tell us we are and where we are actually located and whom we are with. The concept of 'presence' refers to the phenomenon of behaving and feeling as if we are in the virtual world created by computer displays. In this article, we argue that presence is worthy of study by neuroscientists, and that it might aid the study of perception and consciousness

Comparison of a Virtual Game-Day Experience on Varying Devices

Collegiate athletics, particularly football, provide tremendous value to schools through branding, revenue, and publicity. As a result, extensive effort is put into recruiting talented students. When recruiting, home games are exceptional tools used to show a school\u27s unique game-day atmosphere. However, this is not a viable option during the offseason or for off-site visits. This paper explores a solution to these challenges by using virtual reality (VR) to recreate the game-day experience. The Virtual Reality Application Center in conjunction with Iowa State University (ISU) athletics, created a VR application mimicking the game-day experience at ISU. This application was displayed using the world\u27s highest resolution six-sided CAVETM, an Oculus Rift DK2 computer-driven head mounted display (HMD) and a Merge VR smart phone-driven HMD. A between-subjects user study compared presence between the different systems and a video control. In total, 82 students participated, indicating their presence using the Witmer and Singer questionnaire. Results revealed that while the CAVETM scored the highest in presence, the Oculus and Merge only experienced a slight drop compared to the CAVETM. This result suggests that the mobile ultra-low-cost Merge is a viable alternative to the CAVE TM and Oculus for delivering the game-day experience to ISU recruits