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1. Examining the Design, Manufacturing, and Analytics of Smart Wearables

   Lopez, X. ( April 2020 , Medical devices sensors)

   Recent advancements in sensors, device manufacturing, and big data technologies have enabled the design and manufacturing of smart wearables for a wide array of applications in healthcare. These devices can be used to remotely monitor and diagnose various diseases and aid in the rehabilitation of patients. Smart wearables are an unobtrusive and affordable alternative to costly and time-consuming health care efforts such as hospitalization and late diagnosis. Developments in micro- and nanotechnologies have led to the miniaturization of sensors, hybrid 3D printing of flexible plastics, embedded electronics, and intelligent fabrics, as well as wireless communication mediums that permit the processing, storage, and communication of data between patients and healthcare facilities. Due to these complex component architectures that comprise smart wearables, manufacturers have faced a number of problems, including minimum sensor configuration, data security, battery life, appropriate user interfaces, user acceptance, proper diagnosis, and many more. There has been a significant increase in interest from both the academic and industrial communities in research and innovation related to smart wearables. However, since smart wearables integrate several different aspects such as design, manufacturing, and analytics, the existing literature is quite widespread, making it less accessible for researchers and practitioners. The purpose of thismore »study is to narrow this gap by providing a state-of-the-art review of the extant design, manufacturing, and analytics literature on smart wearables-all in one place- thereby facilitating future work in this rapidly growing field of research and application. Lastly, it also provides an in-depth discussion on two very important challenges facing the smart wearable devices, which include barriers to user adoption and the manufacturing technologies of the wearable devices.« less
2. Navigation Tasks in Desktop VR Environments to Improve the Spatial Orientation Skill of Building Engineers

   https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11100492  

   Carbonell-Carrera, Carlos ; Saorin, Jose ; Jaeger, Allison ( October 2021 , Buildings)

   Virtual reality is a powerful tool for teaching 3D digital technologies in building engineering, as it facilitates the spatial perception of three-dimensional space. Spatial orientation skill is necessary for understanding 3D space. With VR, users navigate through virtually designed buildings and must be constantly aware of their position relative to other elements of the environment (orientation during navigation). In the present study, 25 building engineering students performed navigation tasks in a desktop-VR environment workshop. Performance of students using the desktop-VR was compared to a previous workshop in which navigation tasks were carried out using head-mounted displays. The Perspective Taking/Spatial Orientation Test measured spatial orientation skill. A questionnaire on user experience in the virtual environment was also administered. The gain in spatial orientation skill was 12.62%, similar to that obtained with head-mounted displays (14.23%). The desktop VR environment is an alternative to the HMD-VR environment for planning strategies to improve spatial orientation. Results from the user-experience questionnaire showed that the desktop VR environment strategy was well perceived by students in terms of interaction, 3D visualization, navigation, and sense of presence. Unlike in the HDM VR environment, student in the desktop VR environment did not report feelings of fatigue or dizziness.
3. Towards usable underwater virtual reality systems

   https://doi.org/10.1109/VR.2017.7892281  

   Costa, Raphael ; Guo, Rongkai ; Quarles, John ( March 2017 , Virtual Reality (VR), 2017 IEEE)

   The objective of this research is to compare the effectiveness of different tracking devices underwater. There have been few works in aquatic virtual reality (VR) - i.e., VR systems that can be used in a real underwater environment. Moreover, the works that have been done have noted limitations on tracking accuracy. Our initial test results suggest that inertial measurement units work well underwater for orientation tracking but a different approach is needed for position tracking. Towards this goal, we have waterproofed and evaluated several consumer tracking systems intended for gaming to determine the most effective approaches. First, we informally tested infrared systems and fiducial marker based systems, which demonstrated significant limitations of optical approaches. Next, we quantitatively compared inertial measurement units (IMU) and a magnetic tracking system both above water (as a baseline) and underwater. By comparing the devices rotation data, we have discovered that the magnetic tracking system implemented by the Razer Hydra is more accurate underwater as compared to a phone-based IMU. This suggests that magnetic tracking systems should be further explored for underwater VR applications.
4. Evaluation of Virtual Reality Tracking Systems Underwater

   https://doi.org/10.2312/egve.20191277  

   Costa, R. ; Quarles, J. ( September 2019 , ICAT-EGVE 2019 - International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence and Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments)

   The objective of this research is to compare the effectiveness of various virtual reality tracking systems underwater. There have been few works in aquatic virtual reality (VR) - i.e., VR systems that can be used in a real underwater environment. Moreover, the works that have been done have noted limitations on tracking accuracy. Our initial test results suggest that inertial measurement units work well underwater for orientation tracking but a different approach is needed for position tracking. Towards this goal, we have waterproofed and evaluated several consumer tracking systems intended for gaming to determine the most effective approaches. First, we informally tested infrared systems and fiducial marker based systems, which demonstrated significant limitations of optical approaches. Next, we quantitatively compared inertial measurement units (IMU) and a magnetic tracking system both above water (as a baseline) and underwater. By comparing the devices' rotation data, we have discovered that the magnetic tracking system implemented by the Razer Hydra is approximately as accurate underwater as compared to a phone-based IMU. This suggests that magnetic tracking systems should be further explored as a possibility for underwater VR applications.
5. A Systematic Review of Virtual Reality Interfaces for Controlling and Interacting with Robots

   https://doi.org/10.3390/app10249051  

   Wonsick, Murphy ; Padir, Taskin ( December 2020 , Applied Sciences)

   There is a significant amount of synergy between virtual reality (VR) and the field of robotics. However, it has only been in approximately the past five years that commercial immersive VR devices have been available to developers. This new availability has led to a rapid increase in research using VR devices in the field of robotics, especially in the development of VR interfaces for operating robots. In this paper, we present a systematic review on VR interfaces for robot operation that utilize commercially available immersive VR devices. A total of 41 papers published between 2016–2020 were collected for review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Papers are discussed and categorized into five categories: (1) Visualization, which focuses on displaying data or information to operators; (2) Robot Control and Planning, which focuses on connecting human input or movement to robot movement; (3) Interaction, which focuses on the development of new interaction techniques and/or identifying best interaction practices; (4) Usability, which focuses on user experiences of VR interfaces; and (5) Infrastructure, which focuses on system architectures or software to support connecting VR and robots for interface development. Additionally, we provide future directions to continue development inmore »VR interfaces for operating robots.« less