CRI: II-EN: High-Fidelity Real-Time Avatars for Virtual and Mixed Reality

能够创建引人注目的沉浸式虚拟环境的技术现在已经在一般市场上可用。然而，这项技术有局限性。虚拟环境的重要前沿需要高质量的跟踪设备。这些前沿领域之一是能够构建在虚拟环境中准确移动的角色。第二个前沿是使用看似自然的方法探索大型虚拟环境的能力。我们的目标是为个人用户量身定制这些方法。这项研究计划将为实验室配备仪器，从而在这两个问题上取得根本性的进展。这项研究将为一个实验室配备一个高质量的动作捕捉系统，该系统将允许追求涉及虚拟环境的感知保真度的新颖科学问题，研究涉及用户及其与自我化身的关系的理论问题，并确定如何有效地利用用户的个体差异来在虚拟世界中提供更好的运动和导航。特别是，这种设备将使研究如何设计高保真虚拟环境，并使保真度的组成部分，促进学习和培训，其中自我化身是一个关键组成部分的理解。同样，该设备将通过检查个人在虚拟世界中移动时如何使用空间信息源，在大型虚拟环境中改进导航和寻路的运动方法方面取得重大进展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Technology that can create compelling immersive virtual environments is now available on the general market. However, this technology has limitations. Important frontiers for virtual environments need high quality tracking equipment. One of these frontiers is the ability to build characters that move accurately in a virtual environment. A second frontier is the ability to explore large virtual environments using methods that seem natural. Our goal is to tailor these methods to the individual user. This research proposal will equip a lab with instrumentation that will make fundamental advances on these two problems. It will also train graduate students and provide research opportunities for a number of undergraduates.This research will equip a laboratory with a high quality motion capture system that will allow the pursuit of novel scientific questions involving the perceptual fidelity of virtual environments, examine theoretical questions involving users and their relationship to their self-avatars, and determine how individual differences in users can be effectively utilized to provide better locomotion and navigation in virtual worlds. In particular, this equipment will enable research in how to design high fidelity virtual environments, and enable the understanding of the components of fidelity that facilitate learning and transfer of training, for which self-avatars are a critical component. Likewise, the equipment will enable significant progress in locomotion methods for improved navigation and wayfinding in large virtual environments by allowing examination of how spatial information sources are used by individuals as they move through virtual worlds.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.