Exploring Virtual Environments by Visually Impaired Using a Mixed Reality Cane Without Visual Feedback

Extended-Reality Technologies: An Overview of Emerging Applications in Medical Education and Clinical Care.

Lower body tracking and user experience analysis are ongoing challenges in immersive technologies and biomechanics research, respectively. Particularly, in immersive technologies like mixed reality, there are limited research applications in user comfort and experience, and locomotion. In this paper, we aimed to conduct a cross-disciplinary research (by combining the elements of Biomechanics and human–computer interaction) in understanding the impact of user experience and immersive technologies induced symptoms in virtual and mixed reality environments for obstacle clearance tasks. For this, we created obstacle clearance applications for Oculus Quest and Microsoft HoloLens. Also, we conducted a user study with 12 participants under two conditions (virtual reality and mixed reality) in obstacle clearance behavior of varying heights. The results from our study indicated that the levels of immersion and enjoyment were significantly higher in virtual reality compared to mixed reality. In terms of virtual reality-induced symptoms, the participants found the mixed reality environment to be slightly more comfortable than virtual reality.

The perceptual behavior of consumers on a product displayed in the market has a vital role in analyzing the importance given to that product. Therefore, various strategies have been developed to understand this consumer behavior in the selection of products. Immersive technologies like virtual, augmented, and mixed reality are among them. With the foremost feature of immersion in the virtual world and interaction of users with virtual objects, virtual reality, and augmented reality have unlocked their potential in research and a user-friendly tool for analyzing consumer behavior. In addition to these technologies, mixed reality also has a significant role in investigating consumer behavior. Studies on immersive technologies in food applications are vast, hence this review focuses on the applications of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in the food selection behavior of consumers. The behavioral studies are elicited to develop new products based on consumer needs, to understand the shopping behavior in supermarkets for real-time usage, and to know the influence of emotions in a selection of products. The findings suggest that virtual, augmented, and mixed reality induce immersion of the users in food selection behavioral studies. Information on the technological advancements in the tools used for bringing immersion and interaction are discussed for its futuristic applications in food. Though immersive technology gives users a realistic virtual environment experience, its application in food systems is in the budding stage. More research on human response studies would contribute to its innovative and inevitable application in the future.

Perception of safe robot idle time in virtual reality and real industrial environments

Research suggests that Virtual Reality (VR) has many applications for those with intellectual disabilities, and as the hardware needed to create such applications has become increasingly available and mature, it is now possible to further investigate these claims. We aim to use co-design methodology to identify, design, develop and validate a VR environment. Co-design treats the participants of research as “co-researchers”. They are “experts by experience” in accessibility and disability issues and can provide valuable input.Five preparation phase sessions were held with n = 13 intellectually disabled individuals (supported by 4 teaching assistants). Using the Oculus Quest 2, they were able to try a range of VR applications. After completing the activities, they were prompted in follow-up post immersion focus groups to suggest what future applications of VR might be appropriate or desirable for the group as a whole and provide their thoughts and experiences on using the system.It was found that most experienced little difficulty in using the controllers, including performing the grip gesture to pick up and drop objects in the virtual environment. Even those that struggled with the controls engaged with the system and demonstrated interaction and engagement with the system that surpassed teaching assistants’ expectations. Some indicated that they found aspects of the system relaxing and most were keen to try other VR applications.It is hoped that these insights will be useful moving forward in developing a virtual environment with this group and for progressing to the next stages in the co-design methodology - fieldwork and ideation.KeywordsCo-designIntellectual disabilitiesAccessible virtual environmentsAccessible virtual and Augmented reality

The effects of the presence of others during a rowing exercise in a virtual reality environment

The article presents the outcomes of the research of virtual and augmented reality technologies percularities and the possibility of their implementation in the educational process. The main reasons and technologies of virtual reality in the field of information technologies are determined. The analysis of virtual reality programs has been carried out. To determine the relevance of the implementation of virtual, augmented reality and game simulator technologies into the educational process the survey was created by the authors and conducted remotely among the population of Khmelnytskyi region on the Google Forms. The results of the conducted survey suggest the answers to a number of questions, including whether our society is ready to implement virtual, augmented reality and game simulators into the educational process of future specialists’ training, as the field of virtual reality research continues to expand relentlessly, the integration of VR (Virtual Reality) with various areas of human life continues. In addition to the survey in Google Forms, a survey was also conducted to collect information about currently existing virtual environments, programs and game simulators that can be added to educational components or integrated into other educational systems not only in the field of education (Minecraft, Cooking Simulator, PC Building Simulator 1-2, Google Arts & Culture). It is quite possible to integrate these simulators under the educational components of certain specialized subject areas. The conducted survey makes it possible to assume that users are already ready not only for the integration of virtual environments in the game sphere, but also for the full involvement of virtual technologies and game environments in the application of educational components. VR (Virtual Reality) and AR (Augmented Reality) technologies are gaining popularity in cultural, educational, gaming, business environments and more. The disturbed issues are studied in education, which encourages a deeper insight into the essence of the processes that take place under the influence of the latest information and communication developments.

This abstract is a companion piece to the ninth iteration of the “Me and My VE” interactive session. The purpose of this alternative format session is to allow human factors researchers to demonstrate how they use virtual reality, mixed reality, and virtual environments to support end-user research. The session begins with each presenter providing a brief introduction of their virtual reality, mixed reality, or virtual environment application. After this introduction, attendees engage with the presenters and their virtual environments in an interactive demonstration period. This year’s demonstrations include applications ranging from designing virtual environments for accessibility to using virtual and extended reality to support medical and aviation training, content validation, and human-computer interaction studies. The goal of the session is to allow attendees to experience how human factors professionals use virtual environments to support human factors-oriented research and to learn about the exciting work being conducted in this field.

There is an increasing demand for the manipulation of virtual objects in 3D virtual reality (VR) space, which begins with the user selecting a desired object. Existing selection methods aim to provide an intuitive and natural experience that minimizes user fatigue. Although typical ray-casting methods are effective when objects in the virtual space are sparsely or evenly placed, the selection becomes challenging when these objects are smaller or farther away, particularly when they overlap. In this study, we propose a method to address these challenges via an effective selection process. Based on 3D mirroring, the proposed method provides a new interaction metaphor that allows for a more efficient selection of occluded virtual objects. We conduct systematic experiments with 21 subjects and use various levels of target visibility determined by object size, spatial density, and degrees of occlusion. The results indicate that, in occluded 3D environments, the proposed 3D mirrored selection process outperforms traditional gaze-supported selection processes and offers better user satisfaction.

Thinning trainer based on forest-growth model, virtual reality and computer-aided virtual environment

In civil circulation, due to its digitalization, virtual objects that, unlike a real object of the surrounding world in its usual sense, have a digital form wihout a real shell, are widespread. The civil law regime of virtual objects is not defined in the current legislation. Meanwhile, in the context of the development of metaverse concepts, this problem and the search for ways to solve it is becoming increasingly urgent. Determining the legal regime of objects created by the user of the platform on which access to virtual reality is provided, augmented reality objects, as well as objects existing and created within the metaverse, where the user’s usual activities can be carried out, is ambiguous in scholarship and jurisprudence. This study was undertaken to determine the features of the civil law regime of objects created in virtual reality, augmented reality, and in the metaverse. It was concluded that the regimes of familiar civil law objects (property, results of intellectual activity, intangible benefits, services) can be extended to the objects under consideration. However, the material legal concept does not fully reflect the legal nature of the objects under study. Therefore, virtual objects that copy things of the physical world, in essence, can be recognized as other property rights. At the same time, the intellectual property rules can be applied to these objects only if they are created as a result of a person’s creative efforts.

This chapter will be focused on contributing to the increase of universal design competencies of future engineers, educators, and designers through the use of mixed reality technologies, closing the gap between theory and field application of principles, towards a more inclusive world and promoting health and wellbeing for all. The experience of a situation where limitations arise in relation to what is taken for granted is an important experience that leads to a personal knowledge of the difficulties. By the use of simulators, especially virtual (VR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies, it is possible to create such experiences. Training based on MR can prepare future and current professionals for up-to-date requirements of the labor market. In addition, it can ensure that the standards such as barrier-free concepts, broader accessibility, adaptive and assistive technology will be familiar to trainees.

Virtual reality (VR) technology has become a growing force in entertainment, education, science, and manufacturing due to the capability of providing users with immersive experiences and natural interaction. Although common input devices such as controllers, gamepads, and trackpads have been integrated into mainstream VR systems for user-content interaction, they cannot provide users with realistic haptic feedback. Some prior work tracks and maps the physical objects into the virtual space to allow users to interact with these objects directly, which improves users’ sense of reality in the virtual environment. However, most of them use additional hardware sensors, which inevitably increases the cost. In this research, a lightweight approach is proposed to synchronize the positions and motions between physical and digital objects without any extra costs. We use the real-time captured video data from in-built cameras on a VR headset and employ feature points based algorithms to generate projections of the physical objects in the virtual world. Our approach does not rely on additional sensors but just uses components available in a VR headset. Our approach allows users to interact with target objects with their hands directly without the need for specially designed trackers, markers, and other hardware devices as used in previous work. With our approach, users can get more realistic operational feedback when interacting with corresponding virtual objects.

In light of growing concerns about opioid analgesics, developing new non-pharmacologic pain control techniques has become a high priority. Adjunctive virtual reality can help reduce acute pain during painful medical procedures. However, for some especially painful medical procedures such as burn wound cleaning, clinical researchers recommend that more distracting versions of virtual reality are needed, to further amplify the potency of virtual reality analgesia. The current study with healthy volunteers explores for the first time whether interacting with virtual objects in Virtual Reality (VR) via “hands free” eye-tracking technology integrated into the VR helmet makes VR more effective/powerful than non-interactive/passive VR (no eye-tracking) for reducing pain during brief thermal pain stimuli.MethodForty eight healthy volunteers participated in the main study. Using a within-subject design, each participant received one brief thermal pain stimulus during interactive eye tracked virtual reality, and each participant received another thermal pain stimulus during non-interactive VR (treatment order randomized). After each pain stimulus, participants provided subjective 0–10 ratings of cognitive, sensory and affective components of pain, and rated the amount of fun they had during the pain stimulus.ResultsAs predicted, interactive eye tracking increased the analgesic effectiveness of immersive virtual reality. Compared to the passive non-interactive VR condition, during the interactive eye tracked VR condition, participants reported significant reductions in worst pain (p < 0.001) and pain unpleasantness (p < 0.001). Participants reported a significantly stronger illusion of presence (p < 0.001), and significantly more fun in VR (p < 0.001) during the interactive condition compared to during passive VR. In summary, as predicted by our primary hypothesis, in the current laboratory acute pain analog study with healthy volunteers, increasing the immersiveness of the VR system via interactive eye tracking significantly increased how effectively VR reduced worst pain during a brief thermal pain stimulus. Although attention was not directly measured, the pattern of pain ratings, presence ratings, and fun ratings are consistent with an attentional mechanism for how VR reduces pain. Whether the current results generalize to clinical patient populations is another important topic for future research. Additional research and development is recommended.

Virtual and mixed reality technology has advanced tremendously over the past several years. This nascent medium has the potential to transform how people communicate over distance, train for unfamiliar tasks, operate in challenging environments, and how they visualize, interact, and make decisions based on complex data. At the same time, the marketplace has experienced a proliferation of network-connected devices and generalized sensors that are becoming increasingly accessible and ubiquitous. As the Internet of Things expands to encompass a predicted 50 billion connected devices by 2020, the volume and complexity of information generated in pervasive and virtualized environments will continue to grow exponentially. The convergence of these trends demands a theoretically grounded research agenda that can address emerging challenges for human-information interaction (HII). Virtual and mixed reality environments can provide controlled settings where HII phenomena can be observed and measured, new theories developed, and novel algorithms and interaction techniques evaluated. In this paper, we describe the intersection of pervasive computing with virtual and mixed reality, identify current research gaps and opportunities to advance the fundamental understanding of HII, and discuss implications for the design and development of cyber-human systems for both military and civilian use.