Holobody: Advancing the Future of Mixed Reality Technologies
Outline
Holobody is investigating a new approach to interaction in virtual systems that uses the movement of the body’s mass and volume, rather than its shape or pose, to control virtual objects. We call this approach Volumetric Interaction.
Conventional XR interaction control systems detect the body’s movement as a series of poses that are rendered as a virtual ‘skeleton’. This approach presupposes the user has a normative joint structure and normative ranges of joint motion. While these techniques are effective for many users, they do not cater for people with disabilities who may have very different body structures and movement capabilities. Volumetric Interaction renders the body’s movement as a series of moving volumes that are not tied to the underlying joint structures. They can therefore be tailored to individual users’ body structure and movement capacities.
This research was supported by the Australian Government through the ARC’s Discovery Projects funding scheme
(Project DP220102118)
Partners
Investigators
VR Development Team
Dance Artists
The project has two key lines of investigation. One is centered on functional outcomes for applications such as wheelchair use and training. The other focuses on the experiential effects of moving and dancing in these systems and the potential to facilitate awareness and enjoyment of one’s own movement/self.
Many contemporary dance practices also understand movement in terms of continuous, constantly morphing volume, rather than as a series of static poses. We are drawing on these knowledges and practices to develop and evaluate new Volumetric Interaction prototypes that can be customised for people with different movement abilities, through a creative practice research process with dance artists of different movement abilities.
For more information please visit Professor Kim Vincs website
