Head-mounted display | EPFL Graph Search

A head-mounted display (HMD) is a display device, worn on the head or as part of a helmet (see Helmet-mounted display for aviation applications), that has a small display optic in front of one (monocular HMD) or each eye (binocular HMD). An HMD has many uses including gaming, aviation, engineering, and medicine. Virtual reality headsets are HMDs combined with IMUs. There is also an optical head-mounted display (OHMD), which is a wearable display that can reflect projected images and allows a user to see through it. Overview A typical HMD has one or two small displays, with lenses and semi-transparent mirrors embedded in eyeglasses (also termed data glasses), a visor, or a helmet. The display units are miniaturized and may include cathode ray tubes (CRT), liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), liquid crystal on silicon (LCos), or organic light-emitting diodes (OLED). Some vendors employ multiple micro-displays to increase total resolution and field of view. HMDs differ in whet

An Authoring Model For Interactive 360 Videos

Roberto Gerson De Albuquerque Azevedo

The recent availability of consumer-level head-mounted displays and omnidirectional cameras has been driving an explosion of 360 video content. Transforming the original recorded 360 video content in meaningful interactive multimedia presentations that support viewers in tasks such as learning, entertainment, and telepresence, however, is not trivial and requires new tools. Such tools must provide an easy-to-use authoring model for the integration of different media objects and active user interface elements.In this paper, based on real-world scenarios for interactive 360 videos, we gather a set of requirements and propose a declarative authoring model to support authors in the process of designing and creating 360-degree interactive video presentations. As a case study, we implement different applications showing the expressiveness and completeness of the model in the scope of the target scenarios.

IEEE2020

A Modular Approach towards Wearable Computing

Xavier Righetti

Thanks to recent improvements in electronics, conductive materials and energy storage capabilities, we are now able to embed small circuits but also ultra-mobile PCs (UMPC) into clothes. These devices are able to sense, process and communicate information between the user and his/her context. During the first research phase, we have developed a set of wearable applications that aimed at assisting the user in various situations such as the teleoperation of a blimp, or the pedestrian navigation in an unknown indoor environment. Research on both of these experiments can be classified in three categories: First the multimodal interaction between the users, his/her wearable interface, and the environment. Second, the context sensing such as the location of the user. Third, the wireless communication between the embedded system and the surrounding or remote devices. Although the resulting functionalities were satisfying as expected, both systems implied the use of cumbersome equipment such as a Head-Mounted Display (HMD), or a UMPC, and thus were too restrictive. With the experience gained from these experiments, we have decided to pursue a different approach. Indeed, in order to develop a truly wearable system, we have focused our research on the design and development of wearable modules based on small 8-bit microcontrollers. In our vision, one module equals one functionality. The advantages are threefold: First, the applications are virtually unlimited as the wearable modules can be attached or removed on the fly. Second, the user only wears what is needed, thus eliminating the superfluous hardware. Third, compared to commercial wearable products, the user can change the garment without changing the functionalities, or on the opposite, s/he can change the functionalities without changing the garment. A special attention has been put in the design of magnetic connectors in order to facilitate the placement of the modules on the garment. Compared to alternative approaches such as the lilypad from Leah Buechley, our modules do not need to be sewn to the garment and thus can very easily be relocated or removed when washing the garment for example. The decision to opt for a wired bus has been motivated by several factors. Indeed, not only the modules consume less power, but also they are smaller and lighter as they don't need wireless functionalities, nor individual batteries. We have developed specific applications in order to demonstrate and evaluate our modular approach. The feedback collected from test users and the results of various evaluation techniques showed us that our system is comfortable, attractive and perceived as flexible and creative. We believe that this kind of approach may not only foster the involvement of the user in wearable computing applications, but it can also be seen as a rapid prototyping platform consisting of a set of tools that facilitate the development of wearable applications.

EPFL2010

Embodied Interaction using Non-Planar Projections in Immersive Virtual Reality

Ronan Boulic, Henrique Galvan Debarba, Bruno Herbelin, Sami Perrin

In this paper we evaluate the use of non-planar projections as a means to increase the Field of View (FoV) in embodied Virtual Reality (VR). Our main goal is to bring the virtual body into the user’s FoV and to understand how this affects the virtual body/environment relation and quality of interaction. Subjects wore a Head Mounted Display (HMD) and were instructed to perform a selection and docking task while using either Perspective ( ≈ 106º vertical FoV), Hammer or Equirectangular ( ≈ 180º vertical FoV for both) projection. The increased FoV allowed for a shorter search time as well as less head movements. However, quality of interaction was generally inferior, requiring more time to dock, increasing docking error and producing more body/environment collisions. We also assessed cybersickness and the sense of embodiment toward the virtual body through questionnaires, for which the difference between projections seemed to be less pronounced.

2015

A Modular Approach towards Wearable Computing

Xavier Righetti

EPFL2010