Modified Egocentric Viewpoint for Softer Seated Experience in Virtual Reality

Miki Matsumuro*, Shohei Mori, Yuta Kataoka, Fumiaki Igarashi, Fumihisa Shibata, Asako Kimura

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Users in a prolonged experience of virtual reality adopt a sitting position according to their task, as they do in the real world. However, inconsistencies in the haptic feedback from a chair they sit on in the real world and that which is expected in the virtual world decrease the feeling of presence. We aimed to change the perceived haptic features of a chair by shifting the position and angle of the users' viewpoints in the virtual reality environment. The targeted features in this study were seat softness and backrest flexibility. To enhance the seat softness, we shifted the virtual viewpoint using an exponential formula soon after a user's bottom contacted the seat surface. The flexibility of the backrest was manipulated by moving the viewpoint, which followed the tilt of the virtual backrest. These shifts make users feel as if their body moves along with the viewpoint; as a result, they would perceive pseudo-softness or flexibility consistently with the body movement. Based on subjective evaluations, we confirmed that the participants perceived the seat as being softer and the backrest as being more flexible than the actual ones. These results demonstrated that only shifting the viewpoint could change the participants' perceptions of the haptic features of their seats, although significant changes created strong discomfort.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2230-2238
Number of pages9
JournalIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
Volume29
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2023

Keywords

  • chair
  • pseudo-haptics
  • Softness-perception
  • virtual-viewpoint

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Signal Processing
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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