Convergence in Mixed Reality-Virtuality Environments
Facilitating Natural User Behaviorav
Daniel Johansson
Akademisk avhandling
Avhandling för teknologie doktorsexamen i datavetenskap, som enligt beslut av rektor kommer att försvaras offentligt
fredag den 10 februari 2012 kl. 11.15, Hörsal L1, Örebro universitet Opponent: Docent Morten Fjeld
Department of Computer Science and Technology Chalmers University of Technology
Örebro universitet
Institutionen för naturvetenskap och teknik 701 82 ÖREBRO
© Daniel Johansson, 2012
Title: Convergence in Mixed Reality-Virtuality Environments. Facilitating Natural User Behavior.
Publisher: Örebro University 2012 www.publications.oru.se
trycksaker@oru.se Print: Ineko, Kållered 01/2012
ISSN 1650-8580 ISBN 978-91-7668-852-6
Abstract
Daniel Johansson (2012): Convergence in Mixed Reality-Virtuality Environments – Facilitating Natural User Behavior. Örebro Studies in Technology 53, 71 pp.
This thesis addresses the subject of converging real and virtual environ-ments to a combined entity that can facilitate physiologically complying interfaces for the purpose of training. Based on the mobility and physio-logical demands of dismounted soldiers, the base assumption is that greater immersion means better learning and potentially higher training transfer. As the user can interface with the system in a natural way, more focus and energy can be used for training rather than for control itself. Identified requirements on a simulator relating to physical and psychological user aspects are support for unobtrusive and wireless use, high field of view, high performance tracking, use of authentic tools, ability to see other train-ees, unrestricted movement and physical feedback. Using only commer-cially available systems would be prohibitively expensive whilst not provid-ing a solution that would be fully optimized for the target group for this simulator. For this reason, most of the systems that compose the simulator are custom made to facilitate physiological human aspects as well as to bring down costs. With the use of chroma keying, a cylindrical simulator room and parallax corrected high field of view video see-though head mounted displays, the real and virtual reality are mixed. This facilitates use of real tool as well as layering and manipulation of real and virtual objects. Furthermore, a novel omnidirectional floor and thereto interface scheme is developed to allow limitless physical walking to be used for virtual transla-tion. A physically confined real space is thereby transformed into an infi-nite converged environment. The omnidirectional floor regulation algo-rithm can also provide physical feedback through adjustment of the veloc-ity in order to synchronize virtual obstacles with the surrounding simulator walls. As an alternative simulator target use, an omnidirectional robotic platform has been developed that can match the user movements. This can be utilized to increase situation awareness in telepresence applications.
Keywords: Mixed reality. augmented reality, augmented virtuality, head
mounted display, omnidirectional floor, natural interface, telepresence. Daniel Johansson
