HCC: SMALL: Modeling and Exploiting Interaction Context in 3D User Interfaces

随着计算技术的每一次进步，研究人员开发了创新的用户界面，以便用户可以利用技术来提高生产力。长期以来，3D沉浸式虚拟环境一直被认为是计算领域的新前沿；然而，在这些虚拟世界中缺乏有效的用户界面阻碍了它们在工业中的广泛应用。PI之前的工作集中在沉浸式虚拟环境的用户界面框架上，该框架促进了上下文驱动的交互技术，这已被证明可以提高生产力。“上下文”的一个方面是用户的工作空间：用户在虚拟世界中最感兴趣的区域和位置。在这个项目中，PI将建立在他之前开发的框架上，以创建自动推断工作空间大小和位置的方法，并使应用程序能够选择最合适的导航技术。潜在的假设是，上下文信息可以通过观察用户的行为自动推断出来，并且自动激活适合当前上下文的专门交互技术将提高生产力。将开发的混合导航辅助将基于众所周知的WIM和轨道观测方法。寻找基于不断变化的工作空间的导航辅助设备之间有效转换的方法是本研究的主要目标，这将为在虚拟世界中进行更少麻烦和更高效的导航做出重大贡献。更广泛的影响：这项工作将为沉浸式虚拟环境带来更有效的用户界面，这将有助于释放它们在建筑设计、科学探索和协作培训应用等应用中的真正潜力。工作空间的隐式识别与导航技术之间的激活和转换将是当前3D用户界面设计知识体系的一个有价值的补充。虽然目前的项目专注于3D用户界面设计的一个特定领域，但PI的上下文驱动框架概述了数十个实例受益于该技术。这些额外的高度集中的项目中的每一个都可以使用该奖项资助的设备进行；它们共同构成了本科生研究的绝佳机会，在当前的努力完成后，这些研究将长期持续下去。虚拟环境开发本质上需要来自广泛的专业（例如，领域专家，以帮助开发模拟应用程序和图形艺术家，以帮助创建内容）的输入；在进行这项研究时，PI将充分利用其机构的文科重点，将来自不同学科的学生和教师聚集在一起。

With each advance in computing technology, researchers develop innovative user interfaces so users can leverage the technology to enhance productivity. 3D immersive virtual environments have long been considered a new frontier in computing; however, lack of effective user interfaces within these virtual worlds has prevented them from being widely used in industry. The PI's prior work has focused on a user interface framework for immersive virtual environments that facilitates context-driven interaction techniques, which have been proven to enhance productivity. One aspect of "context" is the use's workspace: the area and position in the virtual world that the user is most interested in. In this project the PI will build on his previously developed framework to create methods for automatically inferring workspace size and location, and for enabling applications to select the most appropriate navigation technique. The underlying hypotheses are that contextual information can be automatically inferred by observing the user's actions, and that automatically activating specialized interaction techniques suited for the current context will enhance productivity. The hybrid navigation aid to be developed will be based on the well-known WIM and Orbital Viewing approaches. Finding ways to effectively transition between navigation aids based on a changing workspace is a principle objective of this research, which will represent a significant contribution toward making navigation within a virtual world less cumbersome and more efficient.Broader Impacts: This work will lead to more effective user interfaces for immersive virtual environments, which will help unlock their true potential for applications such as architectural design, scientific exploration, and collaborative training applications. The implicit recognition of workspace coupled with the activation and transitioning between navigation techniques will be a valuable addition to the current body of knowledge in 3D user interface design. Although the current project focuses on a single particular area of 3D user interface design, the PI's context-driven framework outlines dozens of instances benefit from this technique. Each of these additional highly focused projects can be undertaken with the equipment funded through this award; together, they constitute excellent opportunities for undergraduate research, which will continue long after the current effort is completed. Virtual environment development inherently requires input from a wide range of specialties (e.g., domain experts to help develop simulation applications and graphics artists to help create content); the PI will take full advantage of his institution's liberal arts focus to bring together students and faculty from a variety of disciplines when carrying out this research.