Avatares para interação de elevada fidelidade em ambientes virtuais imersivos
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2019-11-14
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A realidade virtual, apesar de ser uma tecnologia bastante antiga, nunca atingiu a maturidade necessária para atingir o sucesso comercial. As recentes inovações potenciaram o seu uso para fins empresariais e consumo pessoal, surgindo previsões que indicam que o seu uso vai mudar a vida das pessoas num futuro próximo. O principal objetivo desta tecnologia é o transporte do utilizador para os ambientes virtuais de forma a sentir-se imerso. Este transporte é feito através do uso de software e hardware desenvolvidos para o efeito. O desenvolvimento deste documento está incluído no âmbito da disciplina de Dissertação/Estágio do Mestrado em Engenharia Informática da Universidade De Trás-OsMontes e Alto Douro. O estágio decorreu no MASSIVE Virtual Reality Laboratory do Instituto Nacional de Engenharia de Sistemas e computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência (INESC TEC). O objetivo deste estágio consistiu no desenvolvimento de uma arquitetura de cinemática inversa para replicar os seus movimentos e criação de avatares realistas para representar o utilizador. Visto que grande parte das aplicações de realidade virtual existentes não utilizam avatares para representar o utilizador e seus movimentos, a arquitetura desenvolvida tem relevância na compreensão do impacto que o uso de avatares animados nos utilizadores. A arquitetura suporta diferentes números de sensores (3,5 ou 6). Após o desenvolvimento foi estudado o impacto do número de sensores usados nos níveis de presença e embodiment do utilizador. Por fim, a solução foi integrada em duas aplicações de realidade virtual previamente desenvolvidas por elementos do laboratório Massive. Os objetivos definidos inicialmente foram atingidos, tendo uma solução funcional no término do estágio, e integrado em várias aplicações. Os resultados mostram que não existem diferenças estatisticamente significativas na presença nem nas suas subescalas. Quanto ao embodiment, os resultados mostram que há diferenças estatisticamente significativas em algumas subescalas, nomeadamente nas subescalas de Sensações Táteis, Resposta e embodiment em geral.
Virtual reality, despite being a very old technology, never reached the necessary maturity to achieve commercial success. The latest innovations boosted their use of business and personal consumption purposes have emerged with the goal of changing people's lives in the near future. The primary goal of this technology is to transport the user to virtual environments in order to feel immersed. This transportation is made using software and hardware developed for this purpose. The development of this document is included in the scope of the Dissertation / Internship subject of the master’s degree in informatics engineering of the University of Trás-Os-Montes e Alto Douro. The internship was held in the MASSIVE Virtual Reality Laboratory of the Instituto Nacional de Engenharia de Sistemas e computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência (INESC TEC). The aim of this stage was to develop an inverse kinematic architecture to replicate its movements and create realistic avatars to represent the user. Since most existing virtual reality applications do not use avatars to represent the user and their movements, the architecture developed has relevance in understanding the impact of using animated avatars on users. The architecture supports different number of sensors (3,5 or 6). After development, the impact of the number of sensors used on the user's presence and embodiment levels was studied. Finally, the architecture was integrated into two virtual reality applications previously developed by elements of the Massive lab. The initially defined objectives were achieved, having a functional solution at the end of the internship, and implemented in various applications. The results show that there are no statistically significant differences in the presence or in its subscales. However, it is possible to observe a positive trend in the 6-point condition. As for embodiment, the results show that there are statistically significant differences in some subscales, namely in the Tactile Sensations, Response and embodiment in general.
Virtual reality, despite being a very old technology, never reached the necessary maturity to achieve commercial success. The latest innovations boosted their use of business and personal consumption purposes have emerged with the goal of changing people's lives in the near future. The primary goal of this technology is to transport the user to virtual environments in order to feel immersed. This transportation is made using software and hardware developed for this purpose. The development of this document is included in the scope of the Dissertation / Internship subject of the master’s degree in informatics engineering of the University of Trás-Os-Montes e Alto Douro. The internship was held in the MASSIVE Virtual Reality Laboratory of the Instituto Nacional de Engenharia de Sistemas e computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência (INESC TEC). The aim of this stage was to develop an inverse kinematic architecture to replicate its movements and create realistic avatars to represent the user. Since most existing virtual reality applications do not use avatars to represent the user and their movements, the architecture developed has relevance in understanding the impact of using animated avatars on users. The architecture supports different number of sensors (3,5 or 6). After development, the impact of the number of sensors used on the user's presence and embodiment levels was studied. Finally, the architecture was integrated into two virtual reality applications previously developed by elements of the Massive lab. The initially defined objectives were achieved, having a functional solution at the end of the internship, and implemented in various applications. The results show that there are no statistically significant differences in the presence or in its subscales. However, it is possible to observe a positive trend in the 6-point condition. As for embodiment, the results show that there are statistically significant differences in some subscales, namely in the Tactile Sensations, Response and embodiment in general.
Descrição
Relatório de Estágio de Mestrado em Engenharia Informática
Palavras-chave
Realidade Virtual , Cinemática Inversa