Mixed Reality for Interaction in Virtual Reality

Research Context

Virtual Reality (VR) Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) establish a barrier between the real and virtual environment creating an inherent interaction problem between the HMD user and other co-located people. For VR to be adopted and more widely used by consumers and in business such limitations of the technology must be investigated. This topic, while not well researched, is beginning to gain increased attention as VR HMDs start to incorporate brute force methods of blending reality into the virtual environments. The focus of this work is to investigate better methods of incorporating and enabling the interaction between an HMD user and a co-located person.

Aims and Objectives

This project will develop and evaluate techniques for interaction using mixed reality in virtual environments, focusing in particular on the interaction between an HMD user and a co-located person. It will utilise depth sensing, chroma-key background subtraction and other sensing techniques to provide a HMD user with information about a co-located person. Methods suitable for one VR application are not suitable for others hence a range of communication and representation techniques must be evaluated and compared.

Alignment to EPSRC Research Areas

This project is most associated with the EPSRC's Human-computer interaction research area. The interaction problem is an inherent limitation of the technology itself and this work considers the problem from both sides of the relationship. How the co-located person interacts with the HMD user and how the HMD user interacts with the co-located person.

The UK is a global leader for immersive content, with the fastest growing VR market in Europe. The importance of investing in VR research and exploring new commercial possibilities for immersive experiences has also been highlighted by the Government in their recently published industrial strategy.