Human interaction in a virtual reality environment

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are becoming useful tools to provide a visual representation of a product, a design or environment without the cost of building a prototype. Other applications include maintenance support, procedures development and workstation design. Currently, VR and AR systems can only display visual and audio cues. For example, in workstation design, i.e., a ship's bridge, aircraft flight deck, command centre, maintenance facility, etc., it is important to for design engineering to determine if the human operator can reach the gauges, switches and controls. To meet the ergonomic and human factor design criteria, the human operator must easily interact with all the displays, instruments, equipment, and controls. This impacts the design and location of seats, instrument panels and windows. VR and AR devices, such as the controllers and gloves, can track the position of the human hand and fingers in a virtual environment but are not able to detect realistic distance or interference with a virtual object. This paper presents a new VR prototype to allow an operator in a fully immersive environment to reach and touch any object in the virtual world. As a case, study the environment was applied to the cabin design of a medical helicopter. Feedback and suggestions from the medical personnel were obtained and are presented.