Creating and manipulating 3D paths with mixed reality spatial interfaces

Mixed reality offers unique opportunities to situate complex tasks within spatial environments. One such task is the creation and manipulation of intricate, three-dimensional paths, which remains a crucial challenge in many fields, including animation, architecture, and robotics. This paper presents an investigation into the possibilities of spatially situated path creation using new virtual and augmented reality technologies and examines how these technologies can be leveraged to afford more intuitive and natural path creation. We present a formative study (n = 20) evaluating an initial path planning interface situated in the context of augmented reality and human-robot interaction. Based on the findings of this study, we detail the development of two novel techniques for spatially situated path planning and manipulation that afford intuitive, expressive path creation at varying scales. We describe a comprehensive user study (n = 36) investigating the effectiveness, learnability, and efficiency of both techniques when paired with a range of canonical placement strategies. The results of this study confirm the usability of these interaction metaphors and provide further insight into how spatial interaction can be discreetly leveraged to enable interaction at scale. Overall, this work contributes to the development of 3DUIs that expand the possibilities for situating path-driven tasks in spatial environments

Gaze prediction using machine learning for dynamic stereo manipulation in games.

Comfortable, high-quality 3D stereo viewing is becoming a requirement for interactive applications today. Previous research shows that manipulating disparity can alleviate some of the discomfort caused by 3D stereo, but it is best to do this locally, around the object the user is gazing at. The main challenge is thus to develop a gaze predictor in the demanding context of real-time, heavily task-oriented applications such as games. Our key observation is that player actions are highly correlated with the present state of a game, encoded by game variables. Based on this, we train a classifier to learn these correlations using an eye-tracker which provides the ground-truth object being looked at. The classifier is used at runtime to predict object category - and thus gaze - during game play, based on the current state of game variables. We use this prediction to propose a dynamic disparity manipulation method, which provides rich and comfortable depth. We evaluate the quality of our gaze predictor numerically and experimentally, showing that it predicts gaze more accurately than previous approaches. A subjective rating study demonstrates that our localized disparity manipulation is preferred over previous methods

Emotional and performance attributes of a VR game: A study of children

In this paper we present the results of a study to determine the effect and efficacy of a Virtual Reality game designed to elicit movements of the upper extremity. The study is part of an on-going research effort to explore the use of Virtual Reality as a means of improving the effectiveness of therapy for children with motor impairments. The current study addresses the following questions: 1. Does a VR game requiring repetitive motion sufficiently engage a child? 2. Are there detrimental physiological or sensory side-effects when a child uses an HMD-based VR? 3. Are the movements produced by a child while playing a VR game comparable to movements produced when carrying out a similar task in the realworld? Based on study results, the enjoyment level for the game was high. ANOVA performed on the results for physical well-being pre- and post-VR showed no overall ill-effects as perceived by the children. Playing the game did not effect proprioception based on pre- and post-VR test scores. Motion data show similar, but not identical, overall movement profiles for similar tasks performed in the real and virtual world. Motor learning occurs in both environments, as measured by time to complete a game cycle

Interactive virtual client for teaching occupational therapy evaluative processes

In this paper, we describe our current work in developing a computer-based educational tool for Occupational Therapy students learning client evaluation techniques. The software is dialog-based and allows the student to interact with a virtual client. Students carry out an evaluation, following the appropriate procedures and assessing both the client’s physical and emotional state as they proceed. Students ’ actions are saved to a file for instructor and self evaluation of their performance. The software is being developed using the Source ® game engine SDK developed by Valve™

Comparison of travel techniques in a complex, multi-level 3d environment

This paper reports on a study that compares three different methods of travel in a complex, multi-level virtual environment using a between-subjects design. A real walking travel technique was compared to two common virtual travel techniques. Participants explored a two-story 3D maze at their own pace and completed four post-tests requiring them to remember different aspects of the environment. Testing tasks included recall of objects from the environment, recognition of objects present and not present, sketching of maps, and placing objects on a map. We also analyzed task completion time and collision data captured during the experiment session. Participants that utilized the real walking technique were able to place more objects correctly on a map, completed the maze faster, and experienced fewer collisions with the environment. While none of the conditions outperformed each other on any other tests, our results indicate that for tasks involving the naive exploration of a complex, multi-level 3D environment, the real walking technique supports a more efficient exploration than common virtual travel techniques. While there was a consistent trend of better performance on our measures for the real walking technique, it is not clear from our data that the benefits of real walking in these types of environments always justify the cost and space trade-offs of maintaining a wide-area tracking system

Interactive virtual client for teaching occupational therapy evaluative processes

In this paper, we describe our current work in developing a computer-based educational tool for Occupational Therapy students learning client evaluation techniques. The software is dialog-based and allows the student to interact with a virtual client. Students carry out an evaluation, following the appropriate procedures and assessing both the client\u27s physical and emotional state as they proceed. Students\u27 actions are saved to a file for instructor and self evaluation of their performance. The software is being developed using the Source® game engine SDK developed by Valve™

Learning Cultural Conversational Protocols with Immersive Interactive Virtual Humans

International audienceThis paper reports on a study conducted to investi-gate the effects of using immersive virtual humans in natural multi-modal interaction to teach users cultural conversational verbal and non-verbal protocols in south Indian culture. The study was conducted using a between-subjects experimental de-sign. We compared instruction and interactive feedback from immersive virtual humans against instruction based on a written study guide with illustrations of the cultural protocols. Partici-pants were then tested on how well they learned the cultural conversational protocols by exercising the cultural conventions in front of videos of real people. Subjective evaluations of partici-pants’ performance was conducted by three south Indian re-viewers who were blind to the condition the participants were assigned. Objective evaluations of participants’ performance were conducted on the motion tracking log data recorded during the testing session. We also measured the participants’ pre and post positive and negative affect of training in both conditions, as well as the effect of co-presence with the life-size virtual south Indians. The results of our subjective evaluation suggest that participants who trained with the virtual humans performed significantly better than the participants who studied from literature. The results also revealed that there were no significant differences in positive or negative affect between conditions. However, overall for all participants in both conditions, positive affect increased and negative affect decreased from before to after instruction