HAPTIC INTERACTION WITH A VIRTUAL GLOBE

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HAPTIC INTERACTION WITH A VIRTUAL GLOBE
13 March 2003 - Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.

Polarization glasses in position, data gloves on, and then into the CAVE, a room in which computer-generated images are projected onto the walls, this is how people have so far ventured into virtual worlds.

Now virtual reality can also be found at the PC workstation: Researchers at the HHI have developed a special monitor that displays virtual objects as high-resolution aerial images directly before the user's eyes. The user sees the model floating in the air about twenty centimeters in front of the actual screen. Shutter glasses are not required since the images are projected directly onto the eyes.

To create the impression of three-dimensional space, the images are calculated separately according to the viewing perspective of the left and right eyes. These two images are then projected onto the respective eye. "This new type of display offers almost perfect visualization of 3D computer-generated objects," says Klaus Schenke, HHI researcher, showing his enthusiasm for the high-resolution, eye-friendly screen.

A further advantage of the display is that it allows virtual models and real tools to be eqally seamlessly merged. The researchers use this property in mixed-reality applications. "Mixed reality is an environment that equally combines elements of both virtual reality and the real world," explains Schenke. A computer-generated globe of the world can thus be rotated, simply by using the hand, like a real globe. A video hand-tracker records the movement of the hand and the computer subsequently calculates how the virtual globe should rotate. There is no need to use a data glove to move or manipulate the three-dimensional model. Furthermore, the 3D workstation can also be equipped with a conventional force feedback system. This enables users to "feel" the globe. On touching the virtual globe, the presence of haptic feedback is clearly perceptible.

"Mixed reality opens up completely new ways of communicating with computers. Instead of using the mouse and keyboard, the computer can also be operated by hand movements," says the HHI scientist with regard to the technology's applications. The system even runs on a low-cost PC platform under Windows XP.

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About: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft undertakes applied research of direct utility to private and public enterprise and of wide benefit to society. Its services are solicited by customers and contractual partners in industry, the service sector and public administration. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft maintains over 80 research units at more than 40 different locations throughout Germany. A staff of some 12,700, predominantly qualified scientists and engineers, works with an annual research budget of over one billion euros. Of this sum, more than € 900 million is generated through contract research. Two thirds of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s contract research revenue is derived from contracts with industry and from publicly financed research projects. The remaining one third is contributed by the German federal and Länder governments, as a means of enabling the institutes to pursue more fundamental research in areas that are likely to become relevant to industry and society in five or ten years’ time.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is also active on an international level: Affiliated research centers and representative offices in Europe, the USA and Asia provide contact with the regions of greatest importance to present and future scientific progress and economic development.

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