An Omnidirectional System for Navigation in Virtual Environments

Part 8: Robotics and ManufacturingInternational audienceVirtual Reality (VR) is one of the newest technological domains with revolutionary applicability for the tomorrow’s Future Internet, including visions of the Internet of Things. The sensation of total immersion in Virtual Environment (VE) is still unresolved. Therefore, our work proposes a new omnidirectional locomotion interface for navigation in VEs. The novel interface was built from an ordinary unidirectional treadmill, a new mechanical device, a motion capturing system to track the human walking and a control method using artificial intelligence techniques. A neural network is used to predict the motion of the new interface based on user’s body motion and information about VE. The feasibility of the proposed system is verified through experiments and the preliminary results suggest that the new interface performs very well in a simplest VE based on our control method

Visual Depth Perception of 3D CAD Models in Desktop and Immersive Virtual Environments

In this paper is presented an experimental study that aims to compare the depth perception of virtual prototypes in immersive virtual environments with the depth perception of CAD models using 2D LCD display. First, a multipurpose solution of a large-scale interactive multi wall projected virtual environment named Holo-CAVE is described and then the conducted experiments are presented. The experiments carried out highlight that perceived depth values estimated for virtual prototypes are significantly influenced by the 3D stereoscopic visualization. Another interesting result of the study is that the estimated depth accuracy increases with the depth size that has to be perceived. The results of experimental study illustrate that the use of immersive stereoscopic visualization is useful during Computer Aided Design related activities