Object Manipulation in Virtual Reality Under Increasing Levels of Translational Gain

Room-scale Virtual Reality (VR) has become an affordable consumer reality, with applications ranging from entertainment to productivity. However, the limited physical space available for room-scale VR in the typical home or office environment poses a significant problem. To solve this, physical spaces can be extended by amplifying the mapping of physical to virtual movement (translational gain). Although amplified movement has been used since the earliest days of VR, little is known about how it influences reach-based interactions with virtual objects, now a standard feature of consumer VR. Consequently, this paper explores the picking and placing of virtual objects in VR for the first time, with translational gains of between 1x (a one-to-one mapping of a 3.5m*3.5m virtual space to the same sized physical space) and 3x (10.5m*10.5m virtual mapped to 3.5m*3.5m physical). Results show that reaching accuracy is maintained for up to 2x gain, however going beyond this diminishes accuracy and increases simulator sickness and perceived workload. We suggest gain levels of 1.5x to 1.75x can be utilized without compromising the usability of a VR task, significantly expanding the bounds of interactive room-scale VR

Using Janus VR with Oculus Rift to enhance Second Language Learning: Analyze the Correlation Between the Sense of Immersion and Learning Second Languages

I created a Virtual Reality (VR) website in Janus VR, a VR web browser, to enhance second language learnings. By using Skype and this VR website in Janus VR, it is possible to create a business to teach second languages, by which students do not need to make an appointment to meet up with teachers, and while students taking a lesson they can see teacher’s avatars. This research is to find the correlation between the sense of immersion and learning second languages. In order to analyze the actual effect of learning second languages in a virtual reality setting, specifically Janus VR, an experiment was conducted to measure the following: change of the trade-off effect by learning vocabulary in virtual reality and the effect of the sense of immersion in learning second languages. Each subject was given two lectures to learn basic Japanese words. One lecture is the traditional online-chat based lesson in which subjects will talk to the teacher via Skype. The other lecture is taught in one of Janus VR’s website I created specifically for learning Japanese. In this environment, subjects talked to the teacher’s avatar via Skype. After each lecture, a short quiz is taken by subjects to compare respective lectures; the online-chat based lecture and Janus VR based lecture. Also, subjects were given an interview to evaluate the importance of 24/7 accessibility of the virtual reality web browser for continuous study

Virtual reality and its role in removing the barriers that turn cognitive impairments into intellectual disability

Early expectations of the contribution that virtual reality (VR) could make to education far exceeded actual applications. This was largely due to the initial immaturity of the technology and a lack of evidence base on which to base design and utilisation. While the early developments in computer based learning largely concentrated on mainstream education, leaving those with special needs behind, the potential of VR as an educational tool was exploited for those with intellectual disabilities right from the start. This paper describes the empirical evidence that has contributed to the development of educational virtual reality for those with intellectual disabilities: studies on transfer of learning from the virtual to the real world; how teachers might support those using VR; the design of virtual environments and what input/control devices best facilitate use of desktop VR. Future developments and ethical issues are also considered

Virtual Reality in Construction

Virtual Reality (VR) has a long history of its development, but it was popularized in 2016 with a boom of various VR-rigs (headsets, glasses, controllers). The work of VR is to create the illusion of being present in an environment that is virtual, i.e. computer generated. When transmitting information to various human senses, VR can simulate a stay in a certain environment, room or location, which allows the user to see, hear and interact with the environment through the use of a VR headset, headphones and controllers

Virtual reality: Theoretical basis, practical applications

Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful multimedia visualization technique offering a range of mechanisms by which many new experiences can be made available. This paper deals with the basic nature of VR, the technologies needed to create it, and its potential, especially for helping disabled people. It also offers an overview of some examples of existing VR systems

Virtual Exploration of Underwater Archaeological Sites : Visualization and Interaction in Mixed Reality Environments

This paper describes the ongoing developments in Photogrammetry and Mixed Reality for the Venus European project (Virtual ExploratioN of Underwater Sites, http://www.venus-project.eu). The main goal of the project is to provide archaeologists and the general public with virtual and augmented reality tools for exploring and studying deep underwater archaeological sites out of reach of divers. These sites have to be reconstructed in terms of environment (seabed) and content (artifacts) by performing bathymetric and photogrammetric surveys on the real site and matching points between geolocalized pictures. The base idea behind using Mixed Reality techniques is to offer archaeologists and general public new insights on the reconstructed archaeological sites allowing archaeologists to study directly from within the virtual site and allowing the general public to immersively explore a realistic reconstruction of the sites. Both activities are based on the same VR engine but drastically differ in the way they present information. General public activities emphasize the visually and auditory realistic aspect of the reconstruction while archaeologists activities emphasize functional aspects focused on the cargo study rather than realism which leads to the development of two parallel VR demonstrators. This paper will focus on several key points developed for the reconstruction process as well as both VR demonstrators (archaeological and general public) issues. The ?rst developed key point concerns the densi?cation of seabed points obtained through photogrammetry in order to obtain high quality terrain reproduction. The second point concerns the development of the Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) demonstrators for archaeologists designed to exploit the results of the photogrammetric reconstruction. And the third point concerns the development of the VR demonstrator for general public aimed at creating awareness of both the artifacts that were found and of the process with which they were discovered by recreating the dive process from ship to seabed