Overview and Exploitation of Haptic Tele-Weight Device in Virtual Shopping Stores

Aqeel Farooq,Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian,Alex Stojcevski,Ben Horan,Saad Mekhilef

doi:10.3390/su13137253

Aqeel Farooq, Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137253

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Abstract

In view of the problem of e-commerce scams and the absence of haptic interaction, this research aims to introduce and create a tele-weight device for e-commerce shopping in smart cities. The objective is to use the proposed prototype to provide a brief overview of the possible technological advancements. When the tele-weight device is affixed over the head-mounted display, it allows the user to feel the item’s weight while shopping in the virtual store. Addressing the problem of having no physical interaction between the user (player) and a series game scene in virtual reality (VR) headsets, this research approach focuses on creating a prototype device that has two parts, a sending part and a receiving part. The sending part measures the weight of the object and transmits it over the cellular network to the receiver side. The virtual store user at the receiving side can thus realize the weight of the ordered object. The findings from this work include a visual display of the item’s weight to the virtual store e-commerce user. By introducing sustainability, this haptic technology-assisted technique can help the customer realize the weight of an object and thus have a better immersive experience. In the device, the load cell measures the weight of the object and amplifies it using the HX711 amplifier. However, some delay in the demonstration of the weight was observed during experimentation, and this indirectly altered the performance of the system. One set of the device is sited at the virtual store user premises while the sending end of the device is positioned at the warehouse. The sending end hardware includes an Arduino Uno device, an HX711 amplifier chip to amplify the weight from the load cell, and a cellular module (Sim900A chip-based) to transmit the weight in the form of an encoded message. The receiving end hardware includes a cellular module and an actuator involving a motor gear arrangement to demonstrate the weight of the object. Combining the fields of e-commerce, embedded systems, VR, and haptic sensing, this research can help create a more secure marketplace to attain a higher level of customer satisfaction.

Highlights

Smart cities are a decisive upheaval, and the perception of a smart city is akin to a rummage sale for the urban and developed vision in which diverse electronically progressive approaches, practices, and sensor networks are cast-off to collect data and manage assets within a city including transportation systems, water supply networks, traffic system, information system, power grids, and other community services by the local government [1,2,3].The goals of smart cities are to improve the quality of life by using technologically advanced tools, techniques, and methods
In this current “what if?” situation, impact analysis requires a huge number of resources, and both virtual reality (VR) and virtual stores are the potential tools to address the upcoming challenges in smart cities [4,5]
A VR platform generates a computer-simulated environment that is fostered and assisted by the head-mounted display (HMD), which utilizes a manipulator in an immersive environment

Summary

Introduction

Smart cities are a decisive upheaval, and the perception of a smart city is akin to a rummage sale for the urban and developed vision in which diverse electronically progressive approaches, practices, and sensor networks are cast-off to collect data and manage assets within a city including transportation systems, water supply networks, traffic system, information system, power grids, and other community services by the local government [1,2,3].The goals of smart cities are to improve the quality of life by using technologically advanced tools, techniques, and methods. Data visualization, modeling, management, and e-commerce sectors are essential fragments of smart cities, and planning professionals are looking for state-of-the-art real-time simulations. In this current “what if?” situation, impact analysis requires a huge number of resources, and both virtual reality (VR) and virtual stores are the potential tools to address the upcoming challenges in smart cities [4,5]. VR is broadly used for cognitive purposes in various industries in the fields of engineering, architecture, and medicine [7,8,9] It is assimilated with other fields and innovations as a supporting technique. Surgeons who treat patients undergoing VR have gained admiration [10,11]

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