FingerMapper: Enabling Arm Interaction in Confined Spaces for Virtual Reality through Finger Mappings

Tseng, Wen-Jie; Huron, Samuel; Lecolinet, Éric; Gugenheimer, Jan

doi:10.1145/3411763.3451573

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…There are three important limitations to the work described here: constrained spaces, embodiment & presence, and limited input characteristics. Few techniques have been evaluated in, or designed for, constrained spaces [23,57]. Therefore, mappings, algorithms and inputs were not designed for limited arm movement; users and designers did not need to be wary of guardian boundary-crossing behaviour, or how the technique may influence this; and there was no consideration of how the limited space impacted the usability or utility of a technique.…”

Section: Limitations and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Lack of Restraint: Comparing Virtual Reality Interaction Techniques for Constrained Transport Seating

Wilson

McGill

Medeiros

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Visual. Comput. Graphics

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Standalone Virtual Reality (VR) headsets can be used when travelling in cars, trains and planes. However, the constrained spaces around transport seating can leave users with little physical space in which to interact using their hands or controllers, and can increase the risk of invading other passengers' personal space or hitting nearby objects and surfaces. This hinders transport VR users from using most commercial VR applications, which are designed for unobstructed 1-2m 360°home spaces. In this paper, we investigated whether three at-a-distance interaction techniques from the literature could be adapted to support common commercial VR movement inputs and so equalise the interaction capabilities of at-home and on-transport users: Linear Gain, Gaze-Supported Remote Hand, and AlphaCursor. First, we analysed commercial VR experiences to identify the most common movement inputs so that we could create gamified tasks based on them. We then investigated how well each technique could support these inputs from a constrained 50x50cm space (representative of an economy plane seat) through a user study (N=16), where participants played all three games with each technique. We measured task performance, unsafe movements (play boundary violations, total arm movement) and subjective experience and compared results to a control 'at-home' condition (with unconstrained movement) to determine how similar performance and experience were. Results showed that Linear Gain was the best technique, with similar performance and user experience to the 'at-home' condition, albeit at the expense of a high number of boundary violations and large arm movements. In contrast, AlphaCursor kept users within bounds and minimised arm movement, but suffered from poorer performance and experience. Based on the results, we provide eight guidelines for the use of, and research into, at-a-distance techniques and constrained spaces.

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Section: Limitations and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Lack of Restraint: Comparing Virtual Reality Interaction Techniques for Constrained Transport Seating

Wilson

McGill

Medeiros

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Visual. Comput. Graphics

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“…By enabling movement through finger motions and fostering a sense of virtual body ownership, Giant Finger facilitates a more immersive exploration of VR spaces. Furthermore, as VR headsets become increasingly mobile and setup environments continue to be simplified, technologies like Giant Finger-which support immersive exploration anywhere without risk concerns such as obstacles-are needed [50]. Potential applications could include applications in environments where full body movement is restricted, such as inside cars [13,18,33], airplanes [57], or confined office spaces [25].…”

Section: Giant Finger Provides Virtual Ownership and Presence Without...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Giant Finger: A Novel Visuo-Somatosensory Approach to Simulating Lower Body Movements in Virtual Reality

Kang,

Kim,

Kim

2023

2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR)

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Figure 1: Giant Finger method employs enlarged fingers that replace the legs and become a part of the virtual body. (a) Users can fly and (b) kick a high target that exceeds the capabilities of human legs. It supports hyper movements that are difficult to perform with two legs while providing a congruent somatosensory experience with the two fingers. (c) Based on the research results, we present software and hardware demonstrations that can be integrated into Giant Finger for wider applications.

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“…, and confined space [17,28]. These contexts all share one common dilemma -users are visually disconnected from the physical environment.…”

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confidence: 99%

Understanding Physical Breakdowns in Virtual Reality

Tseng

2023

Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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Virtual Reality (VR) moves away from well-controlled laboratory environments into public and personal spaces. As users are visually disconnected from the physical environment, interacting in an uncontrolled space frequently leads to collisions and raises safety concerns. In my thesis, I investigate this phenomenon which I define as the physical breakdown in VR. The goal is to understand the reasons for physical breakdowns, provide solutions, and explore future mechanisms that could perpetuate safety risks. First, I explored the reasons for physical breakdowns by investigating how people interact with the current VR safety mechanism (e.g., Oculus Guardian). Results show one reason for breaking out of the safety boundary is when interacting with large motions (e.g., swinging arms), the user does not have enough time to react although they see the safety boundary. I proposed a solution, FingerMapper, that maps small-scale finger motions onto virtual arms and hands to enable whole-body virtual arm motions in VR to avoid physical breakdowns. To demonstrate future safety risks, I explored the malicious use of perceptual manipulations (e.g., redirection techniques) in VR, which could deliberately create physical breakdowns without users noticing. Results indicate further open challenges about the cognitive process of how users comprehend their physical environment when they are blindfolded in VR. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Virtual reality; Empirical studies in HCI.

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FingerMapper: Enabling Arm Interaction in Confined Spaces for Virtual Reality through Finger Mappings

Cited by 5 publications

References 17 publications

A Lack of Restraint: Comparing Virtual Reality Interaction Techniques for Constrained Transport Seating

A Lack of Restraint: Comparing Virtual Reality Interaction Techniques for Constrained Transport Seating

Giant Finger: A Novel Visuo-Somatosensory Approach to Simulating Lower Body Movements in Virtual Reality

Understanding Physical Breakdowns in Virtual Reality

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