Immersive Virtual Reality On-The-Go

Aryabrata Basu, Kyle Johnsen, Kenneth Bogert, Peter Wins University of Georgia

SUMMARY

We propose to demonstrate a ubiquitous immersive virtual reality system that is highly scalable and accessible to a larger audience. Latest trends in mobile communications as well as the entertainment industry seem to validate that, accessibility and scalability play an important role in democratizing technology. We present a practical design of such a system that offers the core affordances of immersive virtual reality in a portable and untethered configuration. In addition, we have developed an extensive immersive virtual experience that involves engaging users visually and aurally. This is an effort towards integrating VR into the space and time of user workflows.

1 DESCRIPTION OF THE DEMO

1.1 Objective To demonstrate the usefulness and the feasibility of deploying Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) in a more realistic setting augmented over the richness of the real world.

To understand and resolve the fundamental problems involved in accessibility of IVEs.

1.2 Demo Application We will be running an immersive virtual experience where the user would be immersed in a 3D maze and would be asked to solve it. This unique experience engages a user’s perception of spatially locating virtual objects inside the maze using both aural and visual cues.

The setup includes a custom untethered Head Mounted Display with the Smart Phone as the primary display and a body worn electromagnetic tracker on a utility belt design.

The average running time per session is 6 to 7 minutes. The average time required to deploy an IVE is under 1 minute.

1.3 Target Application An array of training simulations can be designed using this system. Some of them could be medical training and simulation, sports simulation, exposure therapy.

A scenario that requires a quick exposure to an IVE can be achieved.

2 DEMONSTRATION OF FEASIBILITY

Rapid deployment of an IVE. A more usable and accessible platform for conducting

user studies inside IVEs.

3 DEMONSTRATION OF USEFULNESS

The system takes less than a minute to immerse a user inside an IVE.

Users have reported presence markers while interacting with virtual objects inside the IVE.

The rich features of the real world played a key role in human comfort factors, while users adapt to using the system.

4 UCAVE IN PUBLIC

Figure 1: A user using the UCAVE at Downtown Athens, GA.

5 VIRTUAL EXPERIENCES LABORATORY

Dr. Kyle Johnsen founded the Virtual Experiences Laboratory (VEL) after he joined the University of Georgia (UGA) at the College of Engineering in August 2008. Our laboratory serves as the center of virtual reality research and education at UGA. The mission of the VEL is to enable researchers and students to develop and study the next generation of virtual worlds, advanced user interfaces, and virtual reality applications.

*{basuarya, kjohnsen, kbogert, pwins}@uga.edu

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IEEE Virtual Reality 201316 - 20 March, Orlando, FL, USA978-1-4673-4796-9/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE

5.1 Active Projects

5.1.1 NERVE

Alongside a consortium of computer science and medical researchers at the University of Florida and University of Central Florida, VEL members have been working on the Neurological Examination Rehearsal Virtual Environment (NERVE) as a simulator for teaching medical students to examine and diagnose patients with cranial nerve deficits, who present with symptoms such as double vision and facial paralysis. Within this context, VEL researchers have been exploring the role of mobile and immersive interfaces in learning clinical skills.

5.1.2 UCAVE

VEL members have been involved in creating a self sufficient, untethered virtual reality system called the Ubiquitous Collaborative Activity Virtual Environment (UCAVE).

UCAVE is a portable immersive virtual reality system that enables users to experience an immersive virtual perspective very rapidly. The whole system takes less than a minute to deploy an immersive virtual experience.

The UCAVE is being constantly tested under realistic conditions with randomly selected users. This is done in order to better understand human-comfort factors in adaptation of VR in user workflows.

5.1.3 Single Viewer Quasi-Volumetric Display

VEL members have built a ‘quasi-volumetric’ display that enable users to view large 3D objects at a higher resolution.

This is a concept derived from true volumetric displays which apparently suffer from issues like object translucency and low resolution. Thus VEL members have worked on a ‘quasi-volumetric’ approach that requires a user to rotate around a 3D stereoscopic display to inspect a virtual object.

This project is still in its prototyping stage and the tracking works well for single user.

6 COMPONENTS AND SCHEMATIC FOR UCAVE SETUP

Figure 2: Figure 2: Various Components of UCAVE

Figure 3: Figure 3: A typical setup for UCAVE

6.1 Demo Requirements

A table Projector Projection Space (shown as above) Power

7 BRIEF VIDEO OF THE DEMO (URL)

http://vel.engr.uga.edu/videos/UCAVE_low_res.mp4

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