In existing virtual environments, conventional ground surfaces often impair a user's sense of immersion due to their static nature. This thesis presents a novel approach to enhance one's sense of presence through a floor interface platform that mimics a variety of ground terrains. The ambient system records the force profile of footsteps, synthesizes appropriate responses, and delivers these signals through vibrating floor tiles to imitate the feel and sound of walking on various surfaces. High-quality interactive graphics provided by overhead projectors complete the multimodal experience. Virtual snow and ice environments were developed that allow users to create footprints and crack a frozen ice sheet. Moreover, a perceptual experiment involving the recognition of eight vibration patterns, or haptic icons, delivered to the feet was performed to gauge its discrimination ability. It was found that the interaction afforded to users by the augmented floor was both engaging and perceptually convincing. / A present, dans les milieux virtuels, les surfaces de planchers conventionnelles nuisent a la sensation d'immersion a cause de leur nature statique. Cette these de recherche propose une approche nouvelle pour ameliorer l'experience de l'utilisateur en utilisant un plancher interactif capable de reproduire plusieurs sortes de terrains. Le systeme ambiant capte le profile de force applique au plancher par les pas de l'utilisateur, synthese une reponse appropriee et transmet ces signaux a l'aide de tuiles vibrantes ce qui reproduit la sensation tactile et sonore de marcher sur divers types de surfaces. De plus, la surface du plancher est illuminee par des projecteurs suspendus au plafond, permettant la projection de graphiques interactifs et de hautes qualites pour completer l'experience multimodale. Par exemple, des environnements virtuels hivernaux permettant aux utilisateurs de laisser leurs traces dans la neige ou de craquer la glace d'un etang gele ont ete developpes pour d ́emontrer les capacites du systeme. De plus, une etude de perception sur la reconnaissance de huit modeles de vibration, ou d'icones tactiles, transmis par notre plancher pour elucider la capacite de discrimination du pied a permit de d ́ecouvrir que notre systeme est perceptivement convaincant et prenant.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.95181 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Law, Alvin |
| Contributors | Jeremy Cooperstock (Internal/Supervisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | French |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Engineering (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | Electronically-submitted theses. |
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