Evaluating Object Manipulation Interaction Techniques in Mixed Reality: Tangible User Interfaces and Gesture

Tangible user interfaces (TUIs) have been widely studied in computer, virtual reality and augmented reality systems and are known to improve user experience in these mediums. However, there have been few evaluations of TUIs in wearable mixed reality (MR). In this study, we present the results from a comparative study evaluating three object manipulation techniques in wearable MR: (1) Space-multiplexed identical-formed TUI (i.e., a physical cube that acted as a dynamic tangible proxy with identical real and virtual forms); (2) Time-multiplexed TUI (i.e., a tangible controller that was used to manipulate virtual content); (3) Hand gesture (i.e., reaching, pinching and moving the hand to manipulate virtual content). The interaction techniques were compared with a user study with 42 participants. Results revealed that the tangible cube and the controller interaction methods were comparative to each other while both being superior to the hand gesture interaction method in terms of user experience, performance, and presence. We also present suggestions for interaction design for MR based on our findings. © 2021 IEEE.Immediate accessThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Give Me a Hand: Exploring Bidirectional Mutual Embodied Tangible Interaction in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) systems have been increasingly used in recent years in various domains, such as education and training. Presence, which can be described as 'the sense of being there' is one of the most important user experience aspects in VR. There are several components, which may affect the level of presence, such as interaction, visual fidelity, and auditory cues. In recent years, a significant effort has been put into increasing the sense of presence in VR. This study focuses on improving user experience in VR by increasing presence through increased interaction fidelity and enhanced illusions. Interaction in real life includes mutual and bidirectional encounters between two or more individuals through shared tangible objects. However, the majority of VR interaction to date has been unidirectional. This research aims to bridge this gap by enabling bidirectional mutual tangible embodied interactions between human users and virtual characters in world-fixed VR through real-virtual shared objects that extend from virtual world into the real world. I hypothesize that the proposed novel interaction will shrink the boundary between the real and virtual worlds (through virtual characters that affect the physical world), increase the seamlessness of the VR system (enhance the illusion) and the fidelity of interaction, and increase the level of presence and social presence, enjoyment and engagement. This paper includes the motivation, design and development details of the proposed novel world-fixed VR system along with future directions. © 2021 IEEE.Immediate accessThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Virtual Reality Serious Games for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Design Considerations

Virtual reality has been a popular training tool for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in recent years. Although virtual reality was proven to be a promising tool for individuals with ASD by many previous studies, effects of virtual reality properties on user experience is still an unexplored area. More comparison studies and reliable data are needed to identify the benefits of different VR methods and properties, and leverage the future VR systems. In this dissertation, we explored effects of virtual reality properties on user experience of high functioning individuals with ASD with four different serious game experiments. The first experiment consisted of a virtual reality serious game system for vocational training of individuals with ASD. Although this experiment was focused on the effectiveness of virtual reality training on vocational skills of individuals with ASD and was not comparative; during the user study with 9 neurotypical and 9 high functioning ASD individuals, several observations regarding the effects of virtual reality properties on user experience have been performed. The next three experiments investigated the following: effects of instruction methods on user performance with virtual reality warehouse serious game, effects of visual fidelity and view zoom on user performance with a virtual reality investigation serious game, and effects of environmental clutter and motion on user performance with a virtual reality searching serious game. These three experiments were evaluated with user studies of 15 neurotypical and 15 high functioning ASD individuals. Our motivation was to provide positive contribution to the design and development of future virtual reality serious games targeting individuals with ASD so that more benefits could be gained from these applications. Results of the virtual reality for vocational rehabilitation experiment indicated that virtual reality provided effective training especially for the money management, cleaning and social skills of high functioning individuals with ASD. The distracters in the form of background motion and audio did not affect the performance of the participants significantly. Based on the results of the instruction methods experiment, using animated instructions and avoiding verbal instructions in virtual environments was recommended for an audience of high functioning individuals with ASD. The visual fidelity and view zoom experiment’s results indicated that using low visual fidelity and normal view zoom are better design principles for training applications targeting high functioning individuals with ASD. The results of the experiment on clutter and motion in virtual worksp aces suggested that using no clutter and no motion in training applications targeting high functioning individuals with ASD would provide better user experience. Several other design guidelines based on data analysis and observation were shared in the study, with the aim of leveraging future virtual reality serious games targeting high functioning individuals with ASD

Exploring Horizontally Flipped Interaction in Virtual Reality for Improving Spatial Ability

Virtual reality (VR) is a high-fidelity medium that can offer experiences that are close to real-life. Spatial ability plays an important role in human life, including academic achievement and advancement in work settings. Spatial ability is known to be improved by practicing relevant tasks. Mental rotation and spatial perception are among such tasks that improve spatial skills. In this research, we investigated a “mirror-reversed” interaction technique in a cup stacking task in VR and looked into its effects on spatial ability, brain activity regarding spatial processing and attention (measured with EEG), performance, and user experience in male participants. Participants stacked cups according to given patterns using direct manipulation with horizontally flipped controls, similar to looking in a mirror while performing object manipulation in real life. In a between-subjects user study, we compared this novel interaction with a baseline where the participants completed the same task with regular controls. Although there was no significant main effect of group on the mental rotation and perspective taking/spatial orientation tests scores, within-group analysis indicated a trend toward an improvement in the mirror-reversed group in spatial orientation, while both groups showed a trend toward improvement in mental rotation. Participants in both groups got better at the task over time (their task completion durations decreased). EEG data revealed significant theta band power increase in the mirror-reversed group whereas there was no difference in the alpha band power between the two groups. Our results are encouraging for exploring spatially challenging interactions in VR for spatial skills training. We share the implementation and user study results, and discuss the implications.Immediate accessThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Evaluating the Effects of Visual Fidelity and Magnified View on User Experience in Virtual Reality Games

Virtual reality has been becoming more affordable in recent years. This led to more content specifically developed for this medium. Training with virtual reality is one of the promising areas in terms of the benefits. Virtual reality properties may affect user performance. This study aims at exploring effects of visual fidelity (high and low) and view zoom (normal and magnified) on task performance in virtual reality. Effects of visual fidelity have previously been explored but yielded different results based on the task design. Effects of view zoom on task performance haven’t been explored yet. An inspection task in virtual reality was developed and a user study was performed with 15 participants. Results indicated that low visual fidelity led to better task performance whereas view zoom did not have an effect on the performance

Vr4Vr: Vocational Rehabilitation Of Individuals With Disabilities In Immersive Virtual Reality Environments

This paper presents a virtual reality for vocational rehabilitation system (VR4VR) that is currently in development at the University of South Florida\u27s Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation, and Robotics Technologies (CARRT). VR4VR utilizes virtual reality to assess and train individuals with severe cognitive and physical disabilities. Using virtual reality offers several advantages such as being inexpensive, safer and easily adjustable to different user needs through customization of environments, content and real time interventions. The system is composed of the following components: a virtual reality training area surrounded by an optical motion tracking system, a curved screen with two projectors, a server computer, a remote control interface on a tablet computer for job coaches, and a virtual assistive robot. This paper focuses on virtual reality training for underserved individuals with cognitive disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). We describe six transferrable skill modules and corresponding design considerations. Future work focuses on people with severe mobility impairment, such as spinal cord injury (SCI)

Using Immersive Virtual Reality Serious Games For Vocational Rehabilitation Of Individuals With Physical Disabilities

This paper presents a system for vocational training and assessment of individuals with severe physical disabilities using immersive virtual reality. The system was developed at the University of South Florida’s Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation, and Robotics Technologies (CARRT). A virtual and physical assistive robot was used for the remote-control skills training. After going through several iterations, the system was tested by a total of 15 participants along with professional job trainers. The results were encouraging in further exploration of virtual reality as a promising tool in vocational training of individuals with severe physical disabilities

Vocational Rehabilitation Of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder With Virtual Reality

In this article, a virtual reality system for vocational rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities (VR4VR) is presented. VR4VR uses immersive virtual environments to assess and train individuals with cognitive and physical disabilities. This article focuses on the system modules that were designed and developed for the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) population. The system offers training on six vocational skills that were identified as transferrable to and useful in many common jobs. These six transferable skills are cleaning, loading the back of a truck, money management, shelving, environmental awareness, and social skills. This article presents the VR4VR system, the design considerations for the ASD population, and the findings with a cohort of nine neurotypical individuals (control group) and nine high-functioning individuals with ASD (experiment group) who used the system. Good design practices gathered throughout the study are also shared for future virtual reality applications targeting individuals with ASD. Research questions focused on the effectiveness of the virtual reality system on vocational training of high-functioning individuals with ASD and the effect of distracters on task performance of high-functioning individuals with ASD. Follow-up survey results indicated that for individuals with ASD, there was improvement in all of the trained skills. No negative effects of the distracters were observed on the score of individuals with ASD. The proposed VR4VR system was found by professional job trainers to provide effective vocational training for individuals with ASD. The system turned out to be promising in terms of providing an alternative practical training tool for individuals with ASD

Vocational Training With Immersive Virtual Reality For Individuals With Autism: Towards Better Design Practices

In this paper, an immersive virtual reality system for vocational rehabilitation of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (VR4VR) is presented. VR4VR uses immersive virtual environments to assess and train individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This paper discusses lessons learned from the testing sessions with neuro typical individuals and individuals with ASD in regards to better design principles. During testing sessions, participants used VR4VR system to practice six skills identified as transferrable and useful in many common jobs. These six transferable skills were cleaning, loading the back of a truck, money management, shelving, environmental awareness and social skills. This paper presents VR4VR system, design considerations for the ASD population and lessons learned from the testing sessions with the aim of giving insight to future virtual reality systems for individuals with ASD

Virtual Reality Interaction Techniques For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Design Considerations And Preliminary Results

Virtual reality systems are seeing growing use for training individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Although the tested systems indicate effective use of virtual reality for training, there is little work in the literature evaluating different virtual reality interaction techniques for this specific group of audience. Individuals with ASD are stated to have different characteristics and perceptions. This requires careful exploration of good design principles in interaction. This paper presents design and preliminary evaluation of interaction techniques for individuals with ASD to be used in a highly immersive virtual reality vocational training system VR4VR [1]. The system includes motion tracking cameras, a head mounted display, real time tracked objects, and several interaction tools such as haptic device and touchscreen. In this system, tangible object manipulation, haptic device interaction, touch and snap technique and touchscreen interaction were implemented for object selection and manipulation; real walking and walk in place techniques were implemented for locomotion. A user study was performed with five individuals with ASD who had no prior VR experience. The preliminary testing results and observations that show the preference of the users with ASD on the implemented interaction techniques are shared in this paper with the aim of contributing to the future studies that utilize VR for individuals with ASD