Overview from Virtual Reality, Scientific and Technical Challenges, NRC, 1995

Summarized by Geb Thomas

Learning Objectives

Be able to describe the current areas of research related to SE.

Be able to draw a system diagram differentiation teleoperation and virtual environments.

Be able to define augmented reality. Be able to distinguish the NRC definition of Presence from

Ellis’ definition. Define the distinctions between a simulator and a virtual

environment. Describe common characteristics of SEs. Define the symptoms of sopite syndrome.

Introduction

Includes both Virtual Environments and Teleoperation

VE - Human connects to simulated world Telerobotics - Human connects to a real

world via a robot sensors and actuators

Scope of the SE Field

Multidisciplinary Terminology confusion

• input and output• interface

High talk-to-work and excitement-to-accomplishment ratios

Current Areas of Research

Computer generation of VE Design of telerobots Improvement of human/machine interfaces Relevant aspects of human behavior Comm. systems and networks Computer-generated images of the real

world

Basic Concepts and Terminology

Teleoperator system -- a human operator, a human-machine interface and a telerobot• facilitate the human operator’s ability to sense,

maneuver in, and manipulate the environment

Virtual environments system -- a human operator, a human-machine interface and a computer

Augmented Reality System

Virtual and real environments are combined

Information from real environment is directly sensed with see-through display, supplementary information from VE is overlaid on the display

VE, Teleoperator and Augmented Reality together constitute Synthetic EnvironmentsSynthetic Environments

Presence

Telepresence, virtual presence or synthetic presence

Extent to which the human operator loses his or her awareness of being present at the site of the interface and instead feels present in the artificial environment

Depends on: transparency of interface, amount and kind of interaction

VE and Simulator Distinction

VEs are:• Reconfigurable• Can create unnatural environments• Highly interactive and adaptable• Variety of sensing modalities• Strong sense of presence

Simulator is tied to physical system, VE to the operator

Simulator does far field, VE does near field

Common Characteristics

Visual and auditory displays Head-mounted display monitoring head

position Control signals from head, hands, feet or

speech Haptic interface - interfaces hand for manual

sensing and manipulation with gloves or exoskeletons

Application Domains

Entertainment National Defense Design, Manufacturing, and Marketing Medicine and Health Care Hazardous Operations Education Information Visualization Telecommunication and Teletravel

Some Psych. Considerations

Most human behavior topics are relevant Human performance

• Sensorimotor resolution• Perceptual illusions• Information transfer rates• Manual tracking

Sopite syndrome (simulator sickness) Symptoms

• chronic fatigue,• lethargy• drowsiness• nausea

Causes --• Temperature• Field of view• Visual/kinesthetic misalignment• Interaction effects

Current State of Technology

Visual channel Auditory channel Position tracking and mapping Haptic channel Motion interfaces Other interfaces

Visual channel

Poor resolution Limited field of view Excessive weight Poor fit May cause sopite syndrome $10K-$1M Stereo glasses, booms

Auditory Channel

Effective, inexpensive and ergonomically reasonable

Limited spatial resolution Loud speakers are sensitive to head position Record and playback technologies must store

huge quantities of information Auditory scene analysis requires central

processing

Position Tracking and Mapping

Position tracking• Real-time measurement of pose

Position mapping• Dense set of 3D positions on a surface• Determine body dimensions• Facial expressions• map real environments

Position tracking

Mechanical linkages Magnetic sensors optical sensors acoustic sensors

Haptic channel

Complex combination of sensory functions and manipulative functions and electromechanical systems

Lack of recognized social need Body-based gloves and exoskeletons Ground-based devices (joysticks, robots) Tool-handle systems Skin, tactile displays

Motion interfaces Vestibular system, Motor system, Visual and auditory systems, Proprioceptive/kinesthetic systems Tactile systems Inertial Displays -- body moves Noninertial displays -- body remains stationary Treadmills, stair climbers, stationary bikes

Telerobotics

Design and performance of robots• micromechanical systems

Communication time delays• 30 ms between Washington and LA• 1 s between Earth and Moon• Supervisory control and predictive displays

Demands of real time input/output• distributed telerobotics

Networks

Shared virtual environments SIMNET

• 300 soldiers in tank and aircraft simulators interacting

10baseT standard 100baseT optional at CoE 1.25 Gbit/s reasonable, with effort

Recommendations

Promising application areas:• Design, manufacturing and marketing• Medicine and health care• Hazardous operations• Training

Two special projects• Modeling the human body• Knowledge transfer

Learning Objectives

Be able to describe the current areas of research related to SE.

Be able to draw a system diagram differentiating teleoperation and virtual environments.

Be able to define augmented reality. Be able to distinguish the NRC definition of

Presence from Ellis’ definition. Be able to define the distinctions between a

simulator and a virtual environment. Be able to describe common characteristics of SEs. Be able to define the symptoms of sopite

syndrome.