Evaluating the effects of collaboration and competition in navigation tasks and spatial knowledge acquisition within virtual reality environments

Virtual reality technologies (VR) have advanced rapidly in the last few years. Prime examples include the Oculus RIFT and HTC Vive that are both head-worn/mounted displays (HMDs). VR HMDs enable a sense of immersion and allow enhanced natural interaction experiences with 3D objects. In this research we explore suitable interactions for manipulating 3D objects when users are wearing a VR HMD. In particular, this research focuses on a user-elicitation study to identify natural interactions for 3D manipulation using dual-hand controllers, which have become the standard input devices for VR HMDs. A user elicitation study requires potential users to provide interactions that are natural and intuitive based on given scenarios. The results of our study suggest that users prefer interactions that are based on shoulder motions (e.g., shoulder abduction and shoulder horizontal abduction) and elbow flexion movements. In addition, users seem to prefer one-hand interaction, and when two hands are required they prefer interactions that do not require simultaneous hand movements, but instead interactions that allow them to alternate between their hands. Results of our study are applicable to the design of dual-hand interactions with 3D objects in a variety of virtual reality environments.

/pdf/user-elicited-dual-hand-interactions-for-manipulating-3d-4v5dtxe7mn.pdf

User-elicited dual-hand interactions for manipulating 3D objects in virtual reality environments

We propose, implement and evaluate the use of a smartphone application for real-time six-degrees-of-freedom user input. We show that our app-based approach achieves high accuracy and goes head-to-head with expensive externally tracked controllers. The strength of our application is that it is simple to implement and is highly accessible --- requiring only an off-the-shelf smartphone, without any external trackers, markers, or wearables. Due to its inside-out tracking and its automatic remapping algorithm, users can comfortably perform subtle 3D inputs everywhere (world-scale), without any spatial or postural limitations. For example, they can interact while standing, sitting or while having their hands down by their sides. Finally, we also show its use in a wide range of applications for 2D and 3D object manipulation, thereby demonstrating its suitability for diverse real-world scenarios.

/pdf/pocket6-a-6dof-controller-based-on-a-simple-smartphone-189arfl4oa.pdf

Pocket6: A 6DoF Controller Based On A Simple Smartphone Application

Target selection is one of the most common and important tasks in interactive systems. Within virtual reality environments, target selection can pose extra challenges to users because targets can be located far away, clustered together, and occluded from view. Although selection techniques have been explored, it is often unclear which techniques perform better across different environmental target density levels and which have higher levels of usability especially for recently released commercial head-mounted display (HMD) virtual reality systems and input devices. In this paper, we first review previous studies on target selection in HMD VR environments. We then compare the performances of three main techniques or metaphors (RayCasting, Virtual Hand, and Hand-Extension) using recently marketed VR headsets and input devices under different density conditions and selection areas. After, we select the best two techniques (RayCasting and Virtual Hand) for the second experiment to explore their relative performance and usability by adding different feedback to these two Journal of Universal Computer Science, vol. 24, no. 9 (2018), 1217-1243 submitted: 30/12/17, accepted: 30/6/18, appeared: 28/9/18 © J.UCS

https://lib.jucs.org/article/23528/download/pdf/

Target Selection in Head-Mounted Display Virtual Reality Environments

Bringing full-featured mobile phone interaction into virtual reality

Despite the rapid advancement of display capabilities of VR, in the form of wearable goggles like the Oculus for example, there has been relatively limited progress in the development of input devices for this technology. In this paper, we describe an input controller that is aimed at supporting users' navigation activities in virtual reality environments. Navigation is common in VR environments. The traditional game controller for consoles is still a common choice but only now companies are just beginning to introduce new concepts (for example the HTC Vive Controller). In this research we explore the development of an alternative input controller to support users' navigation activities. This process has led to the design and creation of VRMController, an input device based on a mobile phone designed specifically to support single-hand interaction within VR environments. The design VRMController is based on the results of an initial study comparing three input devices: an Xbox game controller, the HTC Vive controller, and a tablet device. Based on feedback from participants about the useful features of the three types of devices, we have distilled five design guidelines and used them to inform the development of VRMController. The results of a second study comparing our controller with an Xbox controller shows that with our controller participants are able to achieve better performance and find that it is easier to use and more usable.

Jizhou Yang

Papers

VRMController: an input device for navigation activities in virtual reality environments