Whole Body Interaction Using the Grounded Bar Interface

Abstract

Whole body interaction is an important element in promoting the level of presence and immersion in virtual reality systems. In this paper, we investigate the effect of "grounding" the interaction device to take advantage of the significant passive reaction force feedback sensed throughout the body, and thus in effect realizing the whole body interaction without complicated sensing and feedback apparatus. An experiment was conducted to assess the task performance and level of presence/immersion, as compared to a keyboard input method, using a maze navigation task. The results showed that while the G-Bar did induce significantly higher presence and the task performance (maze completion time and number of wall collisions) was on par with the already familiar keyboard interface. The keyboard user instead had to adjust and learn how to navigate faster and not collide with the wall over time, indicating that the whole body interaction contributed to a better perception of the immediate space. Thus considering the learning rate and the relative unfamiliarity of G-Bar, with sufficient training, G-Bar could accomplish both high presence/immersion and task performance for s.

Evaluation of grounded isometric interface for whole‐body navigation in virtual environments

“…For example, isometric exercises only require stimulation and strengthening of the muscles rather than limb movements for whole‐body exercise. In , the authors have proposed a device called G‐Bar (grounded bar), an inexpensive isometric device fixed to the ground to induce natural whole‐body interaction. This paper makes a deeper investigation into the effects of grounded isometric device (such as G‐Bar) toward the level of user‐perceived presence and immersion.…”

“…In Jang et al . , we carried out an initial experiment comparing the G‐Bar interface with a conventional interface, namely the keyboard, to assess the effectiveness of the proposed interaction technique. The experiment was designed as a one‐factor (two‐level) repeated measure within subject, the sole factor being the type of the interface employed (G‐Bar vs. keyboard).…”

“…In , we have introduced an interface called the G‐Bar (grounded bar), a two‐handed isometric device that is fixed to the ground (grounded) for a variety of interactive tasks including navigation and object selection and manipulation. An isometric device makes output according to the sensed amount of force but does not move.…”

“…† † This paper is a significantly extended version of with additional results and analysis to the original experiment (as described in Section 3.3) and newly added experiments (referred to as experiments I and II).…”