VR System Research Articles

Haptic Feedback: Definition and Applications

Abstract: Haptic feedback refers to the use of touch and vibrations to communicate sensations or feelings to a user. Here in this paper we are going to dive deep into what is haptic feedback and how this technology is being implemented in VR systems.

Personalized rehabilitation approach for reaching movement using reinforcement learning

Musculoskeletal disorders challenge significantly the performance of many daily life activities, thus impacting the quality of life. The efficiency of the traditional physical therapy programs is limited by ecological parameters such as intervention duration and frequency, number of caregivers, geographic accessibility, as well as by subjective factors such as patient’s motivation and perseverance in training. The implementation of VR rehabilitation systems may address these limitations, but the technology still needs to be improved and clinically validated. Furthermore, current applications generally lack flexibility and personalization. A VR rehabilitation game simulation is developed, which focuses on the upper-limb movement of reaching, an essential movement involved in numerous daily life activities. Its novelty consists in the integration of a machine learning algorithm, enabling highly adaptive and patient-customized therapeutic intervention. An immersive VR system for the rehabilitation of reaching movement using a bubble popping game is proposed. In the virtual space, the patient is presented with bubbles appearing at different locations and is asked to reach the bubble with the injured limb and pop it. The implementation of a Q-learning algorithm enables the game to adjust the location of the next bubble according to the performance of the patient, represented by his kinematic characteristics. Two test cases simulate the performance of the patient during a training program of 10 days/sessions, in order to validate the effectiveness of the algorithm, demonstrated by the spatial and temporal distribution of the bubbles in each evolving scenario. The results show that the algorithm learns the patient’s capabilities and successfully adapts to them, following the reward policy dictated by the therapist; moreover, the algorithm is highly responsive to kinematic features’ variation, while demanding a reasonable number of iterations. A novel approach for upper limb rehabilitation is presented, making use of immersive VR and reinforcement learning. The simulation suggests that the algorithm offers adaptive capabilities and high flexibility, needed in the comprehensive personalization of a rehabilitation process. Future work will demonstrate the concept in clinical trials.

Virtual Empathy: Usability and Immersivity of a VR System for Enhancing Social Cohesion through Cultural Heritage

In this paper we describe and evaluate a VR application, designed with a novel approach that allows personalized interaction and a more immersive virtual experience. This VR system uses both a user-based methodology in which the user expresses his/her emotions by interacting directly with the environment; and an artificial intelligence-driven methodology that is based on automated language systems able to detect user emotion and moral values from verbal speech. In this study we evaluated the usability and immersivity of our system on a sample of 30 museum visitors. The results indicate that our application is easy and pleasant to use for visitors, and that positive assessments are significantly associated with the level of immersion and realism experienced within the virtual environment. Additionally, we found a low incidence of motion sickness among users.

Retraction Note: VR system application in the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage gongs and drums based on video simulation

Retraction Note: VR system application in the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage gongs and drums based on video simulation

Kine-Appendage: Enhancing Freehand VR Interaction Through Transformations of Virtual Appendages.

Kinesthetic feedback, the feeling of restriction or resistance when hands contact objects, is essential for natural freehand interaction in VR. However, inducing kinesthetic feedback using mechanical hardware can be cumbersome and hard to control in commodity VR systems. We propose the kine-appendage concept to compensate for the loss of kinesthetic feedback in virtual environments, i.e., a virtual appendage is added to the user's avatar hand; when the appendage contacts a virtual object, it exhibits transformations (rotation and deformation); when it disengages from the contact, it recovers its original appearance. A proof-of-concept kine-appendage technique, BrittleStylus, was designed to enhance isomorphic typing. Our empirical evaluations demonstrated that (i) BrittleStylus significantly reduced the uncorrected error rate of naive isomorphic typing from 6.53% to 1.92% without compromising the typing speed; (ii) BrittleStylus could induce the sense of kinesthetic feedback, the degree of which was parity with that induced by pseudo-haptic (+ visual cue) methods; and (iii) participants preferred BrittleStylus over pseudo-haptic (+ visual cue) methods because of not only good performance but also fluent hand movements.

Understanding experiences and interactions of children with Asperger’s syndrome in Virtual Reality-based learning systems

ABSTRACT Asperger’s syndrome is part of the large group of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Children with Asperger’s syndrome suffer from communication difficulties, which leads to disabilities related to social skills and learning. One of the novel suggested approaches to help in their social interaction and learning has been the use of Virtual Reality environments. Following this path, in this long-term study, we explored the social interaction and communication of children with Asperger’s syndrome within a Virtual Reality-based learning system. Children with Asperger’s syndrome used the system in a controlled environment for three months. By conducting a qualitative study based on Constructivist Grounded Theory methods and the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, involving the children, their teachers and mental health experts, we perceived that after initially demonstrating discomfort with the system’s characters, children interacted with the characters of the VR system, facing their communication difficulties, and expressing emotional states (e.g. fear, shyness, and probable suicidal desire). Based on the results, we provide novel insights related to the perception of children with Asperger’s syndrome regarding the use of Virtual Reality-based learning systems.

The Aural Eye

Human aural experience can be equally considered along spatial and temporal continuums. We hear at all times of the day and night, and within all places and spaces: built, natural, public, private and virtual. The territory – both physical and philosophical – between music composition for interior listening and traditional sound based research within environmental acoustics is gradually being occupied by the listener-centred approach of soundscape studies. Soundscape design is emerging as an interdisciplinary field within design education, and one that not only challenges the ocular-centric nature of most design education, but one that could provide a useful mode through which to investigate the coincidences between different design disciplines. This paper draws on the author’s own practice as a sound designer in a variety of spatial sound projects in built and virtual contexts to discuss ideas of landscape, interiority, space and place as experienced through listening. This will include aspects of Canopies: chimerical acoustic environments for the Southgate soundscape system, Ecstasis: human presence in digital environments for an interactive VR system and stereoscopic projections, and The Occupation of Space: Soundsites project with the Melbourne blind community.2 The ideas and technologies underpinning these projects also form the basis of a new pedagogy of sound and listening housed in the Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory’s (SIAL) Sound Studios at RMIT University. The place and role of the Sound Studio’s program in providing an aural perspective that compliments the visual methodologies of co-located design disciplines is discussed.

Hold Tight: Identifying Behavioral Patterns During Prolonged Work in VR Through Video Analysis.

VR devices have recently been actively promoted as tools for knowledge workers and prior work has demonstrated that VR can support some knowledge worker tasks. However, only a few studies have explored the effects of prolonged use of VR such as a study observing 16 participants working in VR and a physical environment for one work-week each and reporting mainly on subjective feedback. As a nuanced understanding of participants' behavior in VR and how it evolves over time is still missing, we report on the results from an analysis of 559 hours of video material obtained in this prior study. Among other findings, we report that (1) the frequency of actions related to adjusting the headset reduced by 46% and the frequency of actions related to supporting the headset reduced by 42% over the five days; (2) the HMD was removed 31% less frequently over the five days but for 41% longer periods; (3) wearing an HMD is disruptive to normal patterns of eating and drinking, but not to social interactions, such as talking. The combined findings in this work demonstrate the value of long-term studies of deployed VR systems and can be used to inform the design of better, more ergonomic VR systems as tools for knowledge workers.

SADNet: Generating immersive virtual reality avatars by real‐time monocular pose estimation

SummaryGenerating immersive virtual reality avatars is a challenging task in VR/AR applications, which maps physical human body poses to avatars in virtual scenes for an immersive user experience. However, most existing work is time‐consuming and limited by datasets, which does not satisfy immersive and real‐time requirements of VR systems. In this paper, we aim to generate 3D real‐time virtual reality avatars based on a monocular camera to solve these problems. Specifically, we first design a self‐attention distillation network (SADNet) for effective human pose estimation, which is guided by a pre‐trained teacher. Secondly, we propose a lightweight pose mapping method for human avatars that utilizes the camera model to map 2D poses to 3D avatar keypoints, generating real‐time human avatars with pose consistency. Finally, we integrate our framework into a VR system, displaying generated 3D pose‐driven avatars on Helmet‐Mounted Display devices for an immersive user experience. We evaluate SADNet on two publicly available datasets. Experimental results show that SADNet achieves a state‐of‐the‐art trade‐off between speed and accuracy. In addition, we conducted a user experience study on the performance and immersion of virtual reality avatars. Results show that pose‐driven 3D human avatars generated by our method are smooth and attractive.

Virtual reality experiences for breathing and relaxation training: The effects of real vs. placebo biofeedback

Virtual reality biofeedback systems for relaxation training can be an effective tool for reducing stress and anxiety levels, but most of them offer a limited user experience associated to the execution of a single task and a biofeedback mechanism that reflects a single physiological measurement. Furthermore, user evaluations of such systems do not typically include a placebo condition, making it difficult to determine the actual contribution of biofeedback. This paper proposes a VR system for breathing and relaxation training that: (i) uses biofeedback mechanisms based on multiple physiological measurements, (ii) provides a richer user experience through a narrative that unfolds in phases where the user is the main character and controls different elements of the virtual environment through biofeedback. To evaluate the system and to assess the actual contribution of biofeedback, we compared two conditions involving 35 participants: a biofeedback condition that exploited real-time measurements of user's breathing, skin conductance, and heart rate; and a placebo control condition, in which changes in the virtual environment followed physiological values recorded from a session with another user. The results showed that the proposed virtual experience helped users relax in both conditions, but real biofeedback produced results that were superior to placebo biofeedback, in terms of both relaxation and sense of presence. These outcomes highlight the important role that biofeedback can play in virtual reality systems for relaxation training, as well as the need for researchers to consider placebo conditions in evaluating this kind of systems.

The Role of Personalization in Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy During the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder

IntroductionIn Cue-Exposure-Therapy (CET), clients are exposed to triggers through objects, people and environments that arouse craving (Sinha et al. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2009;34 1198–1208). Virtual Reality Exposure therapy (VRET) is used to experience these triggers in a realistic, safe, and personalized way. VR has been used successfully in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. It has not yet been developed and sufficiently tested as an adjuvant in the clinical post-detoxification phase of treatment of alcohol use disorders (AUD) (e.g. Bordnick et al. Addict.Behav 2008;33 743-756; Hone-Blanchet et al. Front.Hum.Neurosci. 2014; 8(844) 1-15). Additionally, these treatment methods have been tested for effect, but not for effectiveness around different VR technologies (Ghita & Gutierrez-Maldonado. Addict.Behav 2018; 81 1-11; ). This study focuses on VRET-Recovry to examine to what extent VR worlds could be personalized in an effective manner to help treat AUD as well as clarifying on the ways in which the VR worlds could be optimized to achieve its goal.ObjectivesThe primary objectives of this study are to assess the necessity of personalization in VR environments for AUD treatment, identify the critical elements for personalization, and examine their impact on craving in AUD patients.MethodsThe study included 10 AUD patients diagnosed according to DSM-V criteria, aged between 18 and 65, who were in the final week of clinical detoxification at a large addiction clinic in The Netherlands. A controlled experiment was conducted using the Recovry 1.0 VR system on Samsung Gear VR and Samsung Galaxy S9. The experiment involved exposure to various VR scenes (CG and 360o), including a neutral setting, a bar scene, and a home situation, with the duration and sequence controlled by a therapist. Data collection consisted of pre- and post-exposure questionnaires, heart rate and blood pressure measurements, and interviews.ResultsCraving was remarkably low in the VR bar scene, primarily due to its unsociable context, limited alcohol visibility, and absence of peer pressure. Technical limitations, such as suboptimal resolution, also affected the feeling of presence. Positive results were shown that craving was predominantly stimulated in the apartment scene, driven by the presence of alcohol-related visual cues and social elements, resembling relaxed drinking with others.ConclusionsThis study underscores that some degree of personalization is needed on all craving dimensions with clear preference was given to CG or 360°. The environments were dependent on the personal history and associations they represent to different levels of alcohol visibility (messy or clean), and types of drink (based on past drinking behavior), and different emotional contexts are needed (positive and negative).Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

464 Remote Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Utilizing an In-home Virtual Reality Toolkit (Vx Therapy TM) Reduces Pain, Anxiety, and Depression in Patients With Chronic Cervical and Lumbar Pain: A Potential Opiate Alternative in Multimodal Pain Management

INTRODUCTION: Virtual reality has reduced acute pain through visual and auditory distraction, as well as altered brain neurobiology. VR attenuates pain-induced brain activity without narcotic-related side effects or dependency. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has demonstrated improved pain-related anxiety, depression, physical disability, resiliency, and quality of life. CBT access remains a challenge in most care communities. METHODS: 145 patients with chronic neck and back pain (63 cervical, 46 non-radicular lumbar, 36 radicular lumbar) enrolled into a 14 week Vx therapy CBT program with therapist guided utilization of an in-home VR system with 50 modules (education, meditation, distraction, entertainment). Pain and anxiety severity scores were recorded before and immediately after VR use as well as time to pain recurrence. PROMIS measures of daily pain intensity, pain behavior, pain interference, anxiety, and depression were recorded at baseline and after 14 weeks of Vx therapy. RESULTS: PROMIS domains were significantly improved after Vx treatment vs baseline for the entire cohort and each subgroup. VR acutely reduced pain during use on average by 33% (p < 0.05) across all 14 weeks lasting a mean 2.5 hours. VR acutely reduced anxiety during use on average by 46% (p < 0.05) across all 14 weeks lasting a mean 2.7 hours. The effect was similar for all three diagnosis groups. CONCLUSIONS: Remote CBT guided in-home VR toolkit (Vx therapyTM) provided effective multi-hour sustained pain relief in patients with chronic neck and back pain with and without radiculopathy. Significant improvement in overall pain, anxiety, and depression and reduced pain interference was observed. This non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical Vx therapy is an ideal option to improve outcomes in post-opioid pain management.

Blockchain-Based Edge Collaboration With Incentive Mechanism for MEC-Enabled VR Systems

Blockchain-Based Edge Collaboration With Incentive Mechanism for MEC-Enabled VR Systems

Joint Rendering Offloading and Resource Allocation Optimization for MEC-Assisted VR Systems

Joint Rendering Offloading and Resource Allocation Optimization for MEC-Assisted VR Systems

Full-Body Motion Reconstruction with Sparse Sensing from Graph Perspective

Estimating 3D full-body pose from sparse sensor data is a pivotal technique employed for the reconstruction of realistic human motions in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. However, translating sparse sensor signals into comprehensive human motion remains a challenge since the sparsely distributed sensors in common VR systems fail to capture the motion of full human body. In this paper, we use well-designed Body Pose Graph (BPG) to represent the human body and translate the challenge into a prediction problem of graph missing nodes. Then, we propose a novel full-body motion reconstruction framework based on BPG. To establish BPG, nodes are initially endowed with features extracted from sparse sensor signals. Features from identifiable joint nodes across diverse sensors are amalgamated and processed from both temporal and spatial perspectives. Temporal dynamics are captured using the Temporal Pyramid Structure, while spatial relations in joint movements inform the spatial attributes. The resultant features serve as the foundational elements of the BPG nodes. To further refine the BPG, node features are updated through a graph neural network that incorporates edge reflecting varying joint relations. Our method's effectiveness is evidenced by the attained state-of-the-art performance, particularly in lower body motion, outperforming other baseline methods. Additionally, an ablation study validates the efficacy of each module in our proposed framework.

College Virtual Tour using Virtual Reality

Abstract: Virtual reality has become one of the highly interesting and popular fields. Also in recent times, the concept of the metaverse and its idea of a virtual world is being spread rapidly. As the technological connotation of the term VR has been changing and encompasses various VR systems with different capabilities, it has also paved a way for virtual tourism. The current pandemic situation made people around the world stay inside their houses, which has led to the growth of virtual tourism. Yet the usage of VR is not as wide as its reach. The main reason for VR’s less usage is its affordability, not everyone could afford a VR headset. The objective of this project is to create an immersive virtual tour of the college that can be used by even an individual without any proper gear. Virtual tours are a way for people to experience and explore a place that exists in reality as a physical space via the internet. The old techniques of the virtual tour are either of a pre-recorded video form or just some collections of 360-degree images. To improve the experience, we are creating a 3D virtual environment that the user can access without any restrictions. The user can download the file and can run the program on their desired platform

Virtual reality environments for stress reduction and management: a scoping review

Virtual reality, a cutting-edge innovation in the realm of digital experiences, though more frequently employed for entertainment and education, can also serve as a tool for immersing users in therapeutic settings that promote relaxation and mindfulness. An increasing number of research attempts investigate its usability and impact on stress evaluation, management and reduction. This scoping review aims to depict the current role of virtual reality in stress reduction and identify common methods and practice, technology patterns as well as gaps. Results depict the emerging research interest in the domain of VR-based stress reduction systems. The developed systems included in this review were basically addressed to the general public (59%) for daily life stress reduction utilizing a commercial VR headset often combined with supportive sensors. Guided imagery emerged as the most implemented method, but it is also noteworthy that almost all studies implicitly used this method. According to the analysis, most studies performed evaluation of the proposed VR system including both subjective and objective measurements to provide evidence on its efficiency and its actual impact on stress levels. Finally, validation methodologies attempt to point out the potential of VR technology in the direction of providing an efficient solution for the alleviation of stress burdens. Even though numerous studies report the usefulness and efficiency of VR technology regarding stress reduction, several challenges still need to be addressed, mainly because of the difficult definition, detection and evaluation of stress. An approach integrating the existing knowledge regarding signals that can act as biomarkers of stress and qualitative measurements could open new pathways toward the development of more impactful VR-based stress reduction systems.

THE CATHEDRAL OF SAN MASSIMO IN FORCONA (AQ): ARCHAEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND INTEGRATED DIGITAL EXPERIENCES FOR VR EXPLORATION AND SITE ENHANCEMENT

Abstract. The contribution aims to present the results obtained from the archaeological analysis of the architecture of the Cathedral of San Massimo in Forcona (AQ), which took place in 2021, focusing on the digital systems used for the documentation and valorization of the monument. The work is part of a broader research project developed by the University of L'Aquila and focused on the archaeological study of medieval architecture as a function of the creation of a database on a chronological-typological basis of the masonry construction techniques of the city and its territory. The first structure to be analyzed was the Cathedral of San Massimo in Forcona, which, although it is located at a significant distance from the city center, represented a power pole of fundamental importance for the political-economic administration of the territory, at least until the construction of the city of L'Aquila. The documentation carried out through integrated TLS/SfM digital surveys and archaeological analysis allowed first to establish a chronological sequence of the construction phases of the church, but also to hypothesize through 3D reconstructions the historical evolution of the entire architectural complex. These reconstructions then became the digital support for the creation of a series of immersive VR systems aimed at providing experiences of interactive storytelling and dissemination of research outcomes.

Conversational AI-based VR system to improve construction safety training of migrant workers

Inadequate communication during construction safety training can hinder knowledge transfer to workers, particularly migrant workers who face linguistic and literacy barriers, resulting in higher rates of fatal injuries. Additionally, limited abilities of trainers can further exacerbate this problem. To overcome these gaps, this paper presents a virtual reality-based knowledge delivery approach by integrating artificial Intelligence (AI) agent using ChatGPT as a live instructor. The system's effectiveness is assessed with participants from five countries. Results show a significant increase of 23% in scores between pre- and post-tests, indicating improved knowledge. The system performs uniformly across diverse language and educational backgrounds particularly benefiting those with prior experience. This research significantly contributes to the global construction community by improving safety training, promotes safer practices, and ultimately reduces accidents in diversified construction sites. It also opens avenues for research in immersive technologies and AI techniques, advancing in training methodologies and enhancing safety outcomes.

Dynamic Energy Management for UAV-Enabled VR Systems: A Tile-Based Collaboration Approach

Dynamic Energy Management for UAV-Enabled VR Systems: A Tile-Based Collaboration Approach