A Vibrotactile Floor for Enabling Interaction through Walking in Virtual Spaces

• Main Authors: Alvin Wing-hong Law, C Alvin W. Law
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.472.618; http://srl.mcgill.ca/publications/thesis/2010-MASTER-Law.pdf

In existing virtual environments, conventional ground surfaces often impair a user’s sense of immersion due to their static nature. This thesis presents a novel approach to enhance one’s sense of presence through a floor interface platform that mimics a variety of ground terrains. The ambient system records the force profile of footsteps, synthesizes appropriate responses, and delivers these signals through vibrating floor tiles to imitate the feel and sound of walking on various surfaces. High-quality interactive graphics provided by overhead projectors complete the multimodal experience. Virtual snow and ice envi-ronments were developed that allow users to create footprints and crack a frozen ice sheet. Moreover, a perceptual experiment involving the recognition of eight vibration patterns, or haptic icons, delivered to the feet was performed to gauge its discrimination ability. It was found that the interaction afforded to users by the augmented floor was both engaging and perceptually convincing. ii Sommaire A present, dans les milieux virtuels, les surfaces de planchers conventionnelles nuisent à