6 December 2017
When people have a Virtual Reality experience they are transported to a virtual world using the Head mounted display and headphones. In such a virtual world they can observe, walk around and interact with objects. But when people interact with objects in the virtual world they cannot feel them in the same way they can feel objects in the real world. This project examines how robotics can be used to provide the missing haptic feedback in virtual reality experiences.
To test this we have developed an interface that allows us to control the industrial robot Baxter from within the game engine Unity that generates the virtual reality experience. In this example users can play a virtual sword fighting game against a virtual opponent, and unlike other virtual reality experiences, feel when the swords cross, which is a tremendously exciting and satisfying experience and we are just at the beginning to explore the possibilities for games, entertainment but also a range of other applications in skills training and industry 4.0 applications.
Project Team
A/Prof Stefan Greuter, Dr. Ian Peake, Prof Heinz Schmidt, A/Prof James Harland, Aaron Mihardja, Thejana Satanarachchi, Theon Thai, Leroy Clunne-Kiely
Showcases
Industry Showcase Computer Science, VxLab, RMIT University, 6 December 2017
Unite 2017, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 23 October 2017
Pitch@Place, Advanced Manufacturing Precinct, RMIT University, 21 September 2017
Awards
CS Industry Showcase Award for Best Project, 6 December 2017