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1. Integrated Design of Augmented Reality Spaces Using Virtual Environments

   https://doi.org/10.1109/ISMAR55827.2022.00045  

   Scargill, Tim; Chen, Ying; Marzen, Nathan; Gorlatova, Maria (October 2022, 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR))

   Demand is growing for markerless augmented reality (AR) experiences, but designers of the real-world spaces that host them still have to rely on inexact, qualitative guidelines on the visual environment to try and facilitate accurate pose tracking. Furthermore, the need for visual texture to support markerless AR is often at odds with human aesthetic preferences, and understanding how to balance these competing requirements is challenging due to the siloed nature of the relevant research areas. To address this, we present an integrated design methodology for AR spaces, that incorporates both tracking and human factors into the design process. On the tracking side, we develop the first VI-SLAM evaluation technique that combines the flexibility and control of virtual environments with real inertial data. We use it to perform systematic, quantitative experiments on the effect of visual texture on pose estimation accuracy; through 2000 trials in 20 environments, we reveal the impact of both texture complexity and edge strength. On the human side, we show how virtual reality (VR) can be used to evaluate user satisfaction with environments, and highlight how this can be tailored to AR research and use cases. Finally, we demonstrate our integrated design methodology with a case study on AR museum design, in which we conduct both VI-SLAM evaluations and a VR-based user study of four different museum environments. 

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2. Force-Aware Interface via Electromyography for Natural VR/AR Interaction

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3550454.3555461  

   Zhang, Yunxiang; Liang, Benjamin; Chen, Boyuan; Torrens, Paul M.; Atashzar, S. Farokh; Lin, Dahua; Sun, Qi (December 2022, ACM Transactions on Graphics)

   While tremendous advances in visual and auditory realism have been made for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), introducing a plausible sense of physicality into the virtual world remains challenging. Closing the gap between real-world physicality and immersive virtual experience requires a closed interaction loop: applying user-exerted physical forces to the virtual environment and generating haptic sensations back to the users. However, existing VR/AR solutions either completely ignore the force inputs from the users or rely on obtrusive sensing devices that compromise user experience. By identifying users' muscle activation patterns while engaging in VR/AR, we design a learning-based neural interface for natural and intuitive force inputs. Specifically, we show that lightweight electromyography sensors, resting non-invasively on users' forearm skin, inform and establish a robust understanding of their complex hand activities. Fuelled by a neural-network-based model, our interface can decode finger-wise forces in real-time with 3.3% mean error, and generalize to new users with little calibration. Through an interactive psychophysical study, we show that human perception of virtual objects' physical properties, such as stiffness, can be significantly enhanced by our interface. We further demonstrate that our interface enables ubiquitous control via finger tapping. Ultimately, we envision our findings to push forward research towards more realistic physicality in future VR/AR. 

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3. Using Narrative to Engage Girls in Museum Engineering Design Tasks

   Bennett, D.; Letourneau, S.; Liu, C.C.J. (July 2018, Visitors Studies Association: Fostering Transparency, Fostering Public Trust)

   In this design-based research study, the New York Hall of Science, in collaboration with the Amazeum (Bentonville, AR), the Tech Museum (San Jose, CA), and the Creativity Labs (Indiana University), are examining how narratives can shape girls’ engagement in museum-based engineering activities. The project involves developing and testing six engineering activities that incorporate elements of narrative.Through iterative activity development, the project team is exploring how design prompts and materials can suggest narratives via characters, settings, or scenarios in a way that invites visitors’ perspective-taking and empathy. In addition, by comparing narrative and non-narrative versions of each activity, the team is gathering evidence about whether and how narratives support girls’ participation in engineering activities, as well as their persistence in creating and iterating solutions. This poster shares the beginning theoretical framework for defining narrative and empathy in museum-based engineering activities, as well as the results from three activities developed and tested by summer 2018. 

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4. Measuring Millimeter Wave based Link Bandwidth Fluctuations during Indoor Immersive Experience

   https://doi.org/10.1109/LNET.2022.3157324  

   Wu, Zongshen; Huang, Chin-Ya; Ramanathan, Parameswaran (March 2022, IEEE Networking Letters)

   This paper presents the results of motion-tracking synchronized millimeter wave (mmWave) link bandwidth fluctuations while a user is engaged in immersive augmented/virtual reality applications. Our system, called MITRAS, supports ex- tensive exploration of human-induced impacts on mmWave link bandwidth during immersive experience. MITRAS adopts the packet train measurement application to track link bandwidth fluctuations. Meanwhile, the user movements are tracked using an Oculus Quest 2 headset. Through investigating the impacts of human movements on link bandwidth fluctuations, we further propose a link state prediction model to shed light on higher layer protocol design for immersive applications over mmWave links. 

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5. 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

   Bhattarai, B. (July 2021, Poster: Use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality(VR) to tackle 4 amongst the ”14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century” identified by National Academy of Engineering)

   This poster presents the use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to tackle 4 amongst the “14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century” identified by National Academy of Engineering. AR and VR are the technologies of the present and the future. AR creates a composite view by adding digital content to a real world view, often by using the camera of a smartphone and VR creates an immersive view where the user’s view is often cut off from the real world. The 14 challenges identify areas of science and technology that are achievable and sustainable to assist people and the planet to prosper. The 4 challenges tackled using AR/VR application in this poster are: Enhance virtual reality, Advance personalized learning, Provide access to clean water, and Make solar energy affordable. The solar system VR application is aimed at tackling two of the engineering challenges: (1) Enhance virtual reality and (2) Advance personalized learning. The VR application assists the user in visualizing and understanding our solar system by using a VR headset. It includes an immersive 360 degree view of our solar system where the user can use controllers to interact with celestial bodies-related information and to teleport to different points in the space to have a closer look at the planets and the Sun. The user has six degrees of freedom. The AR application for water tackles the engineering challenge: “Provide access to clean water”. The AR water application shows information on drinking water accessibility and the eco-friendly usage of bottles over plastic cups within the department buildings inside Auburn University. The user of the application has an augmented view of drinking water information on a smartphone. Every time the user points the smartphone camera towards a building, the application will render a composite view with drinking water information associated to the building. The Sun path visualization AR application tackles the engineering challenge: “Make solar energy affordable”. The application helps the user visualize sun path at a selected time and location. The sun path is augmented in the camera view of the device when the user points the camera towards the sky. The application provides information on sun altitude and azimuth. Also, it provides the user with sunrise and sunset data for a selected day. The information provided by the application can aid the user with effective solar panel placement. Using AR and VR technology to tackle these challenges enhances the user experience. The information from these applications are better curated and easily visualized, thus readily understandable by the end user. Therefore, usage of AR and VR technology to tackle these type of engineering challenges looks promising. 

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