Investigating the Human Impact of Perceptually Optimized Motions for Immersive Telepresence Robots
Thesis event information
Date and time of the thesis defence
Place of the thesis defence
IT115, Linnanmaa
Topic of the dissertation
Investigating the Human Impact of Perceptually Optimized Motions for Immersive Telepresence Robots
Doctoral candidate
Master of Science Katherine Mimnaugh
Faculty and unit
University of Oulu Graduate School, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Center for Ubiquitous Computing
Subject of study
Human-Computer Interaction
Opponent
Professor Mark Billinghurst, University of South Australia
Custos
Professor Steven M. LaValle, University of Oulu
Investigating the Human Impact of Perceptually Optimized Motions for Immersive Telepresence Robots
Telepresence is the ability to be in a remote location using technology. Robotic telepresence through a Virtual Reality (VR) Head-Mounted Display (HMD), referred to as immersive robotic telepresence, increases the field of view for the person aboard the telepresence robot and thus improves the illusion of being present at the robot's location. Immersive robotic telepresence is used for many applications, including remote education, remote exploration, search-and-rescue, clinical care, therapeutics, and assistive technology for aging and physical limitation. However, a significant barrier to the further use of this technology is VR sickness, a constellation of symptoms similar to motion sickness which can result from VR HMD use. Other aspects related to the motions of the telepresence robot, such as the forward speed and number of turns, can also have a positive or negative impact.
To address these concerns, this dissertation investigates user experience in immersive robotic telepresence. First, a mathematical framework for robot motion planning that accounts for user comfort criteria, called "Human Perception-Optimized Planning" (H-POP), is introduced. Robot paths created with H-POP were compared to a path created with a traditional path planning algorithm, the Rapidly exploring Random Tree (RRT). VR sickness and other aspects of the paths were examined to determine how these factors impacted the users. One of the optimized paths and the RRT path were then used to induce VR sickness in another set of participants while their brain activity was measured. Self-reported levels of VR sickness were found to be associated with a measure of cognitive function, the P3b, and the amount of errors on a secondary task, indicating that VR sickness induced in current generation HMDs had quantifiable impacts on cognition and performance. Changes in the P3b can be used to evaluate many types of VR experiences, and H-POP can be used for motion planning for any type of vehicle, so both provide value beyond the scope of this work.
In sum, this dissertation provides three major contributions to the research and development community. First, it offers a framework for motion planning which accounts for user comfort criteria. Second, it discusses an evaluation of different features, such as the turns and distance from objects, that affect user experience. Finally, it provides evidence of the deleterious consequences of VR sickness on attention and performance. These results can inform developers of immersive telepresence so that VR sickness can be ameliorated and the comfort and enjoyment for users can be improved.
To address these concerns, this dissertation investigates user experience in immersive robotic telepresence. First, a mathematical framework for robot motion planning that accounts for user comfort criteria, called "Human Perception-Optimized Planning" (H-POP), is introduced. Robot paths created with H-POP were compared to a path created with a traditional path planning algorithm, the Rapidly exploring Random Tree (RRT). VR sickness and other aspects of the paths were examined to determine how these factors impacted the users. One of the optimized paths and the RRT path were then used to induce VR sickness in another set of participants while their brain activity was measured. Self-reported levels of VR sickness were found to be associated with a measure of cognitive function, the P3b, and the amount of errors on a secondary task, indicating that VR sickness induced in current generation HMDs had quantifiable impacts on cognition and performance. Changes in the P3b can be used to evaluate many types of VR experiences, and H-POP can be used for motion planning for any type of vehicle, so both provide value beyond the scope of this work.
In sum, this dissertation provides three major contributions to the research and development community. First, it offers a framework for motion planning which accounts for user comfort criteria. Second, it discusses an evaluation of different features, such as the turns and distance from objects, that affect user experience. Finally, it provides evidence of the deleterious consequences of VR sickness on attention and performance. These results can inform developers of immersive telepresence so that VR sickness can be ameliorated and the comfort and enjoyment for users can be improved.
Last updated: 15.10.2024