I-Corps: Analyzing and Optimizing Human Factors and Ergonomics of Virtual Reality Applications

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发软件工具，用于分析和优化虚拟现实应用的人为因素和人体工程学。培训是一个重要的虚拟现实（VR）应用，具有巨大的商业潜力。所提出的技术可以生成运动感知的虚拟训练内容，这一点很重要，因为在不考虑运动的情况下创建的内容很容易耗尽用户的精力或无法帮助用户实现训练目标。设想的运动感知虚拟训练内容可以广泛应用于健身训练和康复等不同行业。其结果可能通过提高培训的有效性和可及性、公共卫生和生活质量而使公众受益。此外，拟议的技术可能对人机交互、内容创作、虚拟现实和未来的培训产生影响。这个I-Corps项目是基于为虚拟现实训练、康复和锻炼等软件应用程序开发一个运动感知内容生成工具包。所提出的技术有可能作为游戏引擎的实用软件开发工具包实现，供内容创建者和扩展现实开发人员使用。该工具包结合了健身器材公司、虚拟现实（VR）公司和VR健身房在基于运动跟踪健身器材和VR技术的健身训练体验游戏化方面的最新趋势。通过优化，该技术旨在规避手动调整虚拟训练内容的运动效果所需的繁琐和困难的工作，释放VR在训练和健身增强方面的全部潜力。通过生成的内容，练习者可以实现训练目标，而与视觉内容同步的触觉反馈增强了沉浸感和真实感。此外，这增强了受训者的肌肉记忆，从而提高了训练经验的有效性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of software tools for analyzing and optimizing human factors and ergonomics of virtual reality applications. Training is a crucial virtual reality (VR) application with a significant commercial potential. The proposed technology generates exertion-aware virtual training content, which is important as content created without considering exertion may easily exhaust users or fail to help users achieve their training goals. The envisioned exertion-aware virtual training content may be widely deployed by different industries such as fitness training and rehabilitation. The results may benefit the general public by enhancing training effectiveness and accessibility, public health, and quality of life. In addition, the proposed technology may have an impact on human-computer interaction, content creation, virtual reality, and the future of training.This I-Corps project is based on the development of an exertion-aware content generation toolkit for software applications such as virtual reality training, rehabilitation, and exercising. The proposed technology potentially may be realized as a practical software development kit for a game engine for content creators and extended reality developers’ use. The proposed toolkit incorporates recent trends of gym equipment companies, virtual reality (VR) companies and VR gyms on gamifying fitness training experiences based on motion-tracked gym equipment and VR technologies. Via optimization, the technology is designed to circumvent the tedious and difficult efforts needed to tune the exertion effects of virtual training content manually, unlocking the full potential of VR for training and fitness enhancement. Using the generated content, a trainee attains the exercise goals, while the haptics feedback synchronized with the visual content enhances the immersiveness and realism. In addition, this enhances the trainee’s muscle memory and hence the effectiveness of the training experience.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.