Summarized by Geb Thomas 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 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 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 10baseT standard 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: Two special projects 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.