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Experiences of Virtual Reality training and architectural virtual environments benefit when provided a higher sensation of stair climbing. Passive haptic props can add that sensation. These methods present a safe approach by placing short ramps on the floor rather than a physical staircase. To improve a user’s level of immersion, we conducted an experiment to explore the shape of physical props to change the way users were aligned and moved while traveling up or down a virtual set of stairs. We investigated three methods for physical props while ascending and descending virtual stairs. Results suggest that elongated props provide a better experience and are more preferred. 

Low cost sensors and materials are increasingly of interest to de- signers for developing new ways to gather 3-Dimensional input. Silicone is a low cost material with capabilities of a variety of forms and sizes, thereby facilitating flexible construction. Given these properties, users can construct unique input solutions for a variety of applications. However, aside from other existing methods of measuring volume deformation, molded silicone (without added components inside the silicone and without added external cameras) for volumetric input has not been largely explored. In this paper we present an evaluation that investigated the parameters of silicone as volumetric input. The silicone volume has no added components inside making it easy to construct and use, however some external but small, flexible, and portable low-cost components are used for deformation measurement. We present the 3-dimensional input re- sults as a function of the physical pressure on the silicone by the volume of silicone. Researchers can use these input metrics to design a silicone-based device with desired size and thickness to achieve the desired sensitivity and resolution of input for their application.