Swarm Robotic Encountered-Type Haptic Interaction in Immersive Environments

沉浸式环境中的群体机器人遭遇型触觉交互

• 批准号: RGPIN-2021-02857
• 负责人: Suzuki, Ryo
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=742249
• 关键词: Swarm; Robotic; Encountered; Type; Haptic

My team's research will establish novel ways of providing "encountered-type" haptics for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) with swarm robots. "Encountered-type haptic" interfaces are an emerging approach to providing haptic sensations for VR/AR by reconfiguring physical environments. In contrast to current handheld or wearable haptic devices, encountered-type haptics can physically render virtual surfaces and objects around the user, which enables realistic physical sensations and feedback for large-scale interactions in VR/AR. Previously, other technologies have been developed for encountered-type haptics: from grounded robotic arms to shape-changing displays. However, these technologies often introduce challenges in their deployability, scalability, and generalizability. My proposed research will establish a new class of encountered-type haptic interaction enabled by swarm robots. In this novel approach, a swarm of robots can dynamically construct and reconfigure physical objects and spaces to simulate virtual objects, with which the user can physically interact in VR/AR. This approach will enable users to touch and interact in the virtual space using their whole bodies-allowing the users to walk, sit on, grasp, manipulate, or lean against objects in VR/AR environments, as if interacting with them in the physical world. This new approach promises scalable, deployable, and general--purpose encountered-type haptics for immersive environments. We will achieve the research program's goal through three research themes: 1) Tabletop-scale encountered--type haptics with shape--changing swarm robots. 2) Room--scale encountered--type haptics with swarm robotic actuation. 3) Handheld-scale encountered-type haptics with graspable and transformable objects made by swarm robotic assembly. Each of these themes aims to support different haptic interactions and modalities which will cover a wide range of interactions and applications in VR/AR. The outcomes of this research program will have a substantial impact on industry and society in the future in many application domains that include: surgery training, flight simulation, industrial design, entertainment, telepresence, and remote collaboration in immersive environments.

我的团队的研究将建立一种新的方法，为群机器人的虚拟和增强现实（VR/AR）提供“嵌入式”触觉。“遭遇型触觉”界面是通过重新配置物理环境为VR/AR提供触觉感觉的新兴方法。与当前的手持或可穿戴触觉设备相比，嵌入式触觉可以物理地渲染用户周围的虚拟表面和对象，从而实现VR/AR中大规模交互的真实物理感觉和反馈。在此之前，其他技术已经被开发用于嵌入式触觉：从接地的机器人手臂到形状变化的显示器。然而，这些技术通常在其可部署性、可伸缩性和通用性方面带来挑战。我提出的研究将建立一类新的集群式触觉交互，使群体机器人。在这种新方法中，一群机器人可以动态地构建和重新配置物理对象和空间来模拟虚拟对象，用户可以在VR/AR中与虚拟对象进行物理交互。这种方法将使用户能够使用他们的整个身体在虚拟空间中触摸和交互，允许用户在VR/AR环境中行走，坐在，抓握，操纵或倚靠物体，就像在物理世界中与它们交互一样。这种新的方法承诺可扩展的，可部署的，通用的沉浸式环境的触觉。我们将通过三个研究主题来实现研究计划的目标：1）桌面规模的遇到-- 2)房间-规模遇到-类型的触觉与群机器人驱动。3)由群体机器人装配制造的具有可抓取和可变形物体的手持规模的触觉。这些主题中的每一个都旨在支持不同的触觉交互和模式，这些交互和模式将涵盖VR/AR中的广泛交互和应用。这项研究计划的成果将在未来的许多应用领域对行业和社会产生重大影响，包括：手术培训，飞行模拟，工业设计，娱乐，远程呈现和沉浸式环境中的远程协作。