EuroVR2014

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https://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/8052

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Virtual Reality Interface for Multidisciplinary Physical Analysis of Space Vehicles
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Soccini, Agata Marta; Marello, Manuela; Balossino, Nello; Bar, Christian; Basso, Valter; Lucenteforte, Maurizio; Perlo, Daniele; Racca, Filippo; Rocci, Lorenzo; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Physical analysis of Space Vehicles during the pre-launch phase is often performed using mono or multidisciplinary software tools developed for the specific research intent. The mentioned tools, their methods and their results are seldom accessible and rarely deeply understandable outside the single research groups. This paper presents a solution based on a new technical and interaction design. We encourage to interface Virtual Reality 3D systems with the tools that perform the quantitative physical analysis of given space vehicles, as this approach improves productivity and communication effectiveness and brings consisting benefits to the engineering and design collaborative processes. We report an evaluation of this method based on the implementation of the mentioned system at the Collaborative System Engineering center at Thales Alenia Space in Torino, Italy, as part of the project STEPS2. This evaluation showed that users found the Virtual Reality interface easy to use and likely to be useful in their own work.
An Application Based on Augmented Reality and Mobile Technology to Support Remote Maintenance
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Bordegoni, Monica; Ferrise, Francesco; Carrabba, Ernesto; Donato, Michele Di; Fiorentino, Michele; Uva, Antonio Emmanuele; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Product maintenance is a service offered to customers which represents an interesting business for companies. Their interest is both providing a good service in terms of quality and at the same time cutting operational costs. In this view companies are seeking tools that enable them to reach both goals, among those offered by the rapidly evolving ICT sector. The paper describes an application based on augmented reality and mobile technologies aiming to support remote maintenance operations, and improve maintenance services that companies offer to their customers. The paper describes the main idea at the basis of the application, the requirements as well as its implementation. Finally a case study is presented.
Simpler Interfaces for Better 3D Simulation
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Riviere, Jean-Baptiste de la; Castet, Julien; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
As a company providing VR professionals with the immersive visualization and interaction devices they require for their daily tasks, we are witnessing the limitations of existing expert user interfaces that do not address nonadvanced users' requirements. That is why we aimed at simplifying both 3D interaction devices and the interaction tasks they are associated with, and confronted actual users to such new interaction techniques.
A.C.T.I.V.E.: A Scalable Superellipsoid-based CFD Visualization for Virtual and Desktop Environments
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Herrmann, Heiko; Padilla, Marcel; Pastorelli, Emiliano; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
The paper presents a flexible software (A.C.T.I.V.E.) able to visualize the superellipsoidal glyphs describing the orientation of short fibres during the dynamic process of casting a short fibre reinforced composite in a container. The software is designed to run on the VRUI framework and it features an optional face-tracking to grant a more natural interaction also on standard non-3D displays. Due to its flexibility it can be used on a wide range of environments, from desktop computer to multi-screen CAVE-like systems.
Augmented Reality for Field Maintenance of Large Telecommunication Networks
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Bergenti, Federico; Gotta, Danilo; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
This paper describes the experimental activities performed to study the possibility of adopting augmented reality technology in field maintenance of large telecommunication networks. First, the presented work is framed into the larger scope of operations support and the proposed approach that combines agents, workflows and augmented reality is motivated. Then, the reference application scenario is detailed to highlight its peculiarities and intrinsic challenges. Finally, performed experiments on specific network equipments are described, and a draft assessment on the applicability of the proposed approach is outlined.
DroneAGE: an Advanced Graphic Environment for Planning and Control of Drone Missions
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Romano, Enrica; Todeschini, Mauro G.; Vigano, Giovanni P.; Sacco, Marco; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs, commonly known as "drones") have proven to be useful as a platform for remote sensing (RS), that is the acquisition of information about objects, areas or phenomena from a distance, without making physical contact. Benefits are the operational flexibility, the possibility to be used in challenging situations and the higher spatial and temporal resolution of acquired data if compared with alternatives (satellites, aircrafts, ground vehicles, etc.). The paper presents DroneAGE, a software system that supports RS missions featuring UASs bearing different users, ranging from the mission planner to the pilot to the recipient of measured data. The main component of the system is a virtual environment (VE) that shows the operational scenario and contextualizes relevant information about it; the goal is to provide unordinary features (i.e. usually unavailable within the tools bundled with the UASs) through an intuitive and natural interface that enhances the situation awareness of UASs operators. Independence from third party services, flexibility in terms of supported input/output devices, adaptability to other contexts and extensibility have been considered as priorities. This work has been conducted in the frame of Progetto Space4Agri supported by AQ-Regione Lombardia-CNR.
Audio Tactile Maps (ATM) System for Environmental Exploration by Visually-impaired Individuals
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Picinali, Lorenzo; O'Sullivan, Liam; Cawthorne, Douglas; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Navigation within open and closed spaces requires analysis of a variety of acoustic, proprioceptive and tactile cues; a task that is well-developed in many visually-impaired individuals but for which sighted individuals rely almost entirely on vision. For the visually-impaired, the creation of a cognitive map of a space can be a long process for which the individual may repeat various paths numerous times. While this action is typically performed by the individual on-site, it is of some interest to investigate to what degree this task can be performed off-site using a virtual simulator. We propose a tactile map navigation system with interactive auditory display. The system is based on a paper tactile map upon which the user's hands are tracked. Audio feedback provides; (i) information on user-selected map features, (ii) dynamic navigation information as the hand is moved, (iii) guidance on how to reach the location of one hand (arrival point) from the location of the other hand (departure point) and (iv) additional interactive 3D-audio cues useful for navigation. This demo paper presents an overview of the initial technical development stage.
Cultural hARitage: Augmented Reality applied on Cultural Heritage
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Dutra, Joatan Preis; Ebel, Ivana Raquel; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Cultural heritage contents are commonly offered by touristic mobile applications, but it is possible to explore deeper the subject and add AR elements to create an immersive approach. The adaptation of an art-oriented tool reveals some of the possibilities to display cultural heritage content in real case scenario without any large technical experience. It also presents the difficulties on dealing with historical content in a context-aware experience. The developed solutions from the cultural hARitage project, in two practical situations in distinct scenarios (Belgium and Greece) presents something more pragmatic, where it is empirically possible to validate some of the developed propositions and the opportunity to analyze the combination of AR and Cultural Heritage content.
Assessment of Virtual Reality Environments for Design Activities
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Trakunsaranakom, Channarong; Marin, Philippe; Noel, Frederic; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
The aim of this research is the performance assessment of 3D visualization and interaction devices for design activities. Experiments are expected to determine the virtual environments that best fit the dedicated activities. Classification of technologies is proposed on the basis of its apparent relevance to reach intuitive support to the design activity but a method to provide a more complete and objective assessment is proposed. To check the proposed assessment method, a simple assembly activity has been selected as a use case where the use of stereoscopic screen versus classical 2D display on one hand and an haptic arm with versus without force feedback on the other hand must be compared. Experimental measures are performed by the use of objective sensors: duration and gesture instability along the task are tracked. The comparison was done on the assembly of the jig and fixture system. The experimental measures are analysed both with their absolute values and their evolution when training users. This paper is a positioning paper where the intention is to build a framework where more abstract qualification of virtual environments may be extracted: intuitiveness, tangibility, ergonomic and by the end utility should be the final assessment.
Thinking Factory for the Future: from PLM to Augmented Reality
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Dhuieb, Mohamed Anis; Belkadi, Farouk; Laroche, Florent; Bernard, Alain; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Virtual engineering technologies become an emerging field in industry and research. Nowadays, industrials are using Virtual and Augmented Reality in different phases of their manufacturing process (advanced manufacturing process visualization, assembly tasks, training, etc.). The purpose of this paper is to introduce the advantage of linking augmented reality application, to help employees on their daily tasks. This involves the connections with the existing components of the information system in the factory, especially PLM system used to handle the CAD models. Some principles of solutions are proposed to show how the integrative frameworks can support the realization of manufacturing activities.
Development of a Haptic Training Simulation for the Administration of Dental Anaesthesia based upon Accurate Anatomical Data
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Poyade, Matthieu; Lysakowski, Anna; Anderson, Paul; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
In the dental curriculum, the initial administration of local anaesthesia injection on live patients is critical and students may experience a high degree of anxiety. Low self-confidence often caused by insufficient knowledge of anatomy has been repeatedly reported as one of the major causes. In this paper, we focus on the development of a haptic training system based upon an accurate anatomical model, which aims to encourage self-paced learning of the practical skills that are required in such procedures and to increase students' self-confidence. We first present the workflow we have considered to develop an accurate anatomical model of the human head and neck and introduce a Virtual Reality-based application commissioned by NHS Education for Scotland to support the learning of the anatomy in a safe and repeatable manner. Finally, we describe the functionalities of the haptic training system and discuss further developments with regard to existing research outcomes.
Interactive Visualization of Energy Efficiency Concepts Using Virtual Reality
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Haefner, Polina; Seessle, Julia; Duecker, Jana; Zienthek, Matthias; Szeliga, Filip; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Virtual reality is an important topic for the engineers of tomorrow. This is especially the case when it comes to modeling, visualization and interaction with complex information structures and concepts. The paper presents the results of a synergy between a practical course in virtual reality and energy efficiency in public buildings research. The practical course focuses on acquiring knowledge of virtual reality hardware, software and applications by simulating an interdisciplinary industrial project. The project consist of two tasks. The first task is to build a system for capturing the users' behaviour and energy use in public buildings and the second task is to create a virtual reality system for interactive visualization of the collected data. With this goal in mind, an office room with sensors, automation devices and energy consumers was created. A virtual reality low cost system was then used to represent the virtual office and to augment it with real-time information
Haptic Devices Evaluation for Industrial Use
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Iacob, Robert; Popescu, Diana; Noel, Frederic; Louis, Thibault; Masclet, Cedric; Maigrot, Patrick; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
The current study concerns the Assembly/Disassembly (A/D) process. Despite the latest improvements, the creation of a fully realistic VE is still challenging because of the complexity of the physical processes involved and the current limitations of the available VR technology. In this context, the main purpose of this research is to improve the A/D process simulation by proposing a new method and associated tools, as well as a better integration with haptic devices. To this end, the first objective, regarding the software application, is to develop and evaluate the impact of a mobility module based on predefined kinematic constraints between the assembly components, able to guide user's movements when performing A/D operations simulation. This can be achieved through the intelligent management of the assembly components relative mobilities in contact situations. The second objective, regarding the hardware aspects, is to determine if the described approach, along with a new moderate cost haptic system, could represent an interesting solution for industrial use. In this sense, a comparison between the A/D simulation qualities provided by two commercial haptic devices (basic equipment with 3 DoF force feedback versus an expensive system with 6 DoF force feedback) was performed and it is presented in this paper. Conclusions were drawn after series of tests conducted by a target group composed of 20 people with engineering background.
A New Fast and Robust Collision Detection and Force Computation Algorithm Applied to the Physics Engine Bullet: Method, Integration, and Evaluation
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Sagardia, Mikel; Stouraitis, Theodoros; Silva, Joao Lopes e; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
We present a collision detection and force computation algorithm based on the Voxelmap-Pointshell Algorithm which was integrated and evaluated in the physics engine Bullet. Our algorithm uses signed distance fields and point-sphere trees and it is able to compute collision forces between arbitrary complex shapes at simulation frequencies smaller than 1 msec. Utilizing sphere hierarchies, we are able to rapidly detect likely colliding areas, while the point trees can be used for processing colliding regions in a level-of-detail manner. The integration into the physics engine Bullet was performed inheriting interface classes provided in that framework. We compared our algorithm with Bullet's native GJK, GJK with convex decomposition, and GImpact, varying the resolution and the scenarios. Our experiments show that our integrated algorithm performs with similar computation times as the standard collision detection algorithms in Bullet if low resolutions are chosen. With high resolutions, our algorithm outperforms Bullet's native implementations and objects behave realistically.
Towards a New Platform Paradigm for Synergetic Virtual Environments
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Hocke, Markus; Serna, Sebastian Pena; Wurster, Jan; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Most of today's Virtual Reality system architectures follow visualization-centric data paradigms, using hierarchical data structures typically containing static content. As one of the future's - and even today's - key communication and collaboration tools, Virtual Reality is quickly developing into an integrator of heterogeneous technologies and content. For instance, highly sophisticated software simulation technology exists today to enable industrial users [KNC10] to apply the benefits of virtual prototyping throughout the challenging steps of the product development process: Immersive Virtual Engineering has an enormous potential to deliver the engaging work environment for today's and future technical users delivering a fast, accessible and pertinent virtual model that drives day to day engineering decisions - individually and/or collaboratively, from concept design to process engineering and serviceability. Within this paper, we would like to point out some of the new challenges and their consequences, suggesting new paradigms in system architecture design that will enable next generation software platforms to handle the industry's demands towards synergetic Virtual Environments.
Feedback on In-flight Applications of Virtual Reality to Enhance Comfort in Future Aircraft
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) D'Cruz, Mirabelle; Patel, Harshada; Lewis, Laura; Cobb, Sue; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
The European funded project VR-HYPERSPACE (FP7-AAT-2011-1-285681 www.vr-hyperspace.eu) has made great steps towards investigating innovative ways of using virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) in-flight, specifically to enhance passenger comfort in future air cabins. VR/MR were used to create virtual environments presenting ''positive illusions'' to a passenger either through head-mounted displays (HMDs) or large-scale displays. These illusions, based on research in virtual embodiment and space perception, were developed to investigate whether altering a person's virtual body, and placing a virtual body or your physical body in alternative environments, can change a person's perception of their comfort. This paper presents a brief summary of feedback from a group of VR-enthusiasts on the first demonstrations of these comfort illusions to the wider public.
Classification of VR Interaction Techniques, Based on User Intention
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Weidig, Christian; Mestre, D. R.; Israel, J. H.; Noel, F.; Perrot, V.; Aurich, J. C.; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
The number of different virtual reality (VR) systems and corresponding interaction techniques is quite manifold, today. For dedicated input devices, data types and application domains specific interaction techniques have been developed. Thereby a wide audience of researchers can benefit from using VR systems. A drawback is, that for non-VR specialists it is nearly impossible to get a clear overview and identify proper interaction techniques for their research questions. Therefore this article proposes a classification scheme for VR interaction techniques based on the users' purpose. This will help non-VR specialist to identify VR systems and interaction techniques perfectly matching their demand. The classification will be used within the project VISIONAIR to bring together VR experts and external users.
PolyVR - A Virtual Reality Authoring System
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Haefner, Victor; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
Virtual Reality applications are very complex. 3D modelling and scene authoring is very time consuming and requires expertise in computer sciences. A further problem are the advanced Virtual Reality hardware setups, which have to be planned, configured and maintained. PolyVR is a Virtual Reality authoring system that allows the user to dynamically create immersive and interactive virtual worlds. The created content is abstracted from the hardware setup, allowing a flexible deployment even on complex distributed visualization setups. The hardware setup configuration is dynamic, it can be changed while the virtual world is running. This includes viewport management, tracking systems and other Virtual Reality technologies such as haptic devices. Scene authoring is realised through manipulation and configuration of the scenegraph nodes as well as through Python scripting for dynamic and interactive content. Python bindings provide access to all built-in features of PolyVR. It allows for a powerful and highly flexible way of interfacing with external libraries or other resources, and is a very intuitive language with a low learning curve.
New Techniques for Hand Pose Estimation Based on Kinect Depth Data
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Hummel, Simon; Haefner, Victor; Haefner, Polina; Ovtcharova, Jivka; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
In this paper we present new techniques for extension and improvement of approaches to markerless 3D hand pose estimation: A new algorithm for finger segmentation in point clouds of hands is presented which makes use of the narrow and flexible shape of the fingers. The kinematic of a 3D hand model gets aligned to the geodesic paths of the fingers which provides a very natural configuration of the model. Therefore a new technique for optimization of those geodesic paths is introduced. Another benefit of this system is, that it's only data resource is the depth stream of a Kinect. So no additional hardware, markers or training data is needed. A first implementation of our approach provides a proof for the new concepts and looks promising for further investigation.
Towards P300 Based Brain Computer Interface for Computer Aided Design
(The Eurographics Association, 2014) Postelnicu, Cristian; Duguleana, Mihai; Garbacia, F.; Talaba, Doru; Jerome Perret and Valter Basso and Francesco Ferrise and Kaj Helin and Vincent Lepetit and James Ritchie and Christoph Runde and Mascha van der Voort and Gabriel Zachmann
The paper evaluate the row-column P300-based spelling interface for geometric modeling tasks in the engineering design process. In the first part of the paper is presented a BCI-CAD interface that can be used for geometric modeling applications. The proposed solution for BCI-CAD integration tries to preserve all advantages of using the existing legacy CAD software and add on top of it a BCI interface as an alternative to the existing classical WIMP paradigm. In the second part, we present a evaluation study of the BCI-CAD system by trials with subjects carrying out a standard CAD modeling session. The results are discussed in the last part of the paper.

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