The goal of the research is to apply virtual environment technology to develop product prototyping tools, with a particular emphasis on emulating user interfaces. Virtual environments refer to any form of simulation or emulation technology with enhances the illusion that the user is experiencing a specific task or environment. The premise of the research is that if better prototyping tools were available, the cost and effort of improving product interfaces could be significantly reduced, resulting in better product designs.
The approach which will be used for the prototyping tools is to emulate a product and its interface using computer based visual, aural and haptic (feel) displays. The haptic display will be based on servomotors controlled to emulate the mechanical properties of real switches and buttons. The aural display will use either playback of prerecorded sound clips or a physically based model of the control. The visual display will use the display monitor of a graphics workstation to show the emulated control in the context of the entire product.
My Ph.D. dissertation (ps zip file). (May 1999)
Two methods are implemented for the visual display. The first uses a graphics workstation to render the prototype product and control on its display screen. The users wears a CyberGlove to measure finger position and a Bird for monitoring wrist position in six degrees of freedom. Using the inputs from the sensors, an animated image of the hand can be drawn on the display screen which will mimic the actions of the real hand interacting with the haptic display.
The second method uses the chromakey techniques for implementing the visual display. In this method, the graphics workstation will superimpose a video image of the user's actual hand and forearm on a computer-generated rendering of the product. The user will then see and feel his or her own hand manipulating the control on the virtual product.
