Nimesha Ranasinghe
Pravar Jain
David Tolley
Shi Yilei
Ellen Yi-Luen Do
ABSTRACT
As Virtual Reality (VR) experiences become increasingly popular, simulating sensory perceptions of environmental conditions is essential for providing an immersive user experience. In this paper, we present Ambiotherm, a wearable accessory for existing Head Mounted Displays (HMD), which simulates real-world environmental conditions such as ambient temperatures and wind conditions. The system consists of a wearable accessory for the HMD and a mobile application, which generates interactive VR environments and controls the thermal and wind stimuli. The thermal stimulation module is attached to the user's neck while two fans are focused on the user's face to simulate wind conditions. We demonstrate the Ambiotherm system with two VR environments, a desert and a snowy mountain, to showcase the different types of ambient temperatures and wind conditions that can be simulated. Results from initial user experiments show that the participants perceive VR environments to be more immersive when external thermal and wind stimuli are presented as part of the VR experience.
Supplemental Material
- Deligiannidis, L., and Jacob, R. J. The vr scooter: Wind and tactile feedback improve user performance. In 3D User Interfaces (3DUI'06), IEEE (2006), 143--150. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Hülsmann, F., Mattar, N., Fröhlich, J., and Wachsmuth, I. Simulating wind and warmth in virtual reality: conception, realization and evaluation for a cave environment. J Virtual Real Broadcast 11, 10 (2014), 1--20.Google Scholar
- Jerald, J. The VR Book: Human-Centered Design for Virtual Reality. Morgan & Claypool, 2015. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Jessen, C. Temperature regulation in humans and other mammals. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012, 6.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- AmbioTherm: Simulating Ambient Temperatures and Wind Conditions in VR Environments
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