Development of upper limb customized non- isomorphic VR interact ions for reaching, grabbing, and placing objects

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming adopted in education, training, and entertainment due to its growing affordability. The variability of user preferences and physical capabilities in VR requires configurable settings in one-size-fits-all user interactions, such as pre-defined height, camera movements and 3D User Interactions (3DUI) for alleviating problems with reach in Virtual Environments (VE). Alleviating reach has been studied for isomorphic 3DUIs (equal translation of controller movement) whereas non-isomorphic interactions (adjusted controller visuals in VR) are an immerging topic for its benefits by considering user variability and physical limitation in VR. This thesis presents the development of an upper limb customized non-isomorphic 3DUI, Piecewise, studied between three other interaction modes (Normal, Object translation, and Falloff). The study focuses on the impacts on time and task completion, upper body lean, reach, engagement and presence levels within VEs. The results indicate that upper limb customized non-isomorphic 3DUIs are acceptable, engaging, and overall positive.