초록 ▼

The invention provides compact haptic and augmented virtual reality system that produces an augmented reality environment. The system is equipped with software and devices that provide users with stereoscopic visualization and force feedback simultaneously in real time. High resolution, high pixel d

The invention provides compact haptic and augmented virtual reality system that produces an augmented reality environment. The system is equipped with software and devices that provide users with stereoscopic visualization and force feedback simultaneously in real time. High resolution, high pixel density, head and hand tracking ability are provided. Well-matched haptics and graphics volumes are realized. Systems of the invention are compact, making use of a standard personal display device, e.g., a computer monitor, as the display driver. Systems of the invention may therefore be inexpensive compared to many conventional virtual reality systems.

대표청구항 ▼

The invention claimed is: 1. A compact haptic and augmented virtual reality system, the system comprising: a physical desktop workspace arranged by a housing that is open on one side, the physical desktop workspace being configured for comfortably positioning a user's head and hands with respect to

The invention claimed is: 1. A compact haptic and augmented virtual reality system, the system comprising: a physical desktop workspace arranged by a housing that is open on one side, the physical desktop workspace being configured for comfortably positioning a user's head and hands with respect to the system; head and hand tracking devices to track head and hand movements of a user; a high-resolution display screen positioned by the housing above a position of the user's head and facing a partially transparent mirror, the partially transparent mirror being positioned by the housing below the position of the user's head; a haptic touch device positioned below the partially transparent mirror in a position to permit the user to see both the virtual reality display and the user's hands when the user's hands are placed below the mirror to use the haptic touch device and the user's head is positioned above the mirror to view an augmented reality environment that integrates the user's hands with virtual 3d models in the physical desktop workspace; and a software library that provides, in real time, a high level layer that encapsulates the rendering of a scene graph on the display screen, the stereoscopic vision interface, the handling of the hand and head tracking devices, and an interface with the haptic touch interface. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein further comprises a 3-d hearing interface for a user; and said software library further comprises software for rendering playback of 3d spatial audio on the 3-d hearing interface. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein said high-resolution display screen automatically flips images so that text and data are correctly oriented in the augmented reality environment generated with the partially transparent mirror. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein said partially transparent mirror and said display screen are sized and arranged to permit a user to move his/her head relative to the partially transparent mirror and maintaining said augmented reality environment, said software library updating, in real-time, the scene graph on the high resolution display screen to accommodate head movement sensed by said head tracking. 5. The system of claim 1, wherein said partially transparent mirror and said display screen are positioned by the housing to create a virtual projection plane disposed at 45° with respect to said physical desktop workspace. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the plane of the partially transparent mirror corresponds to the bisector of the angle between the display screen and the virtual projection plane. 7. The system of claim 1, wherein said software library updates, in real-time, the scene graph on the high resolution display screen to accommodate head movement sensed by said head tracking to maintain substantially perfect graphics and haptics collocation. 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the software library is implemented on a single computer. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein said head tracking comprises position and orientation sensing. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein said software library renders left and right views on said display screen centered according to the position and orientation of a user's head as determined by said head tracking. 11. The system of claim 10, wherein said hand tracking comprises position and orientation sensing. 12. The system of claim 1, wherein said display screen and said partially transparent mirror are configured to provide near perfect visual acuity. 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the visual acuity is approximately 20/25. 14. The system of claim 1, wherein said head tracking and said hand tracking are measured at a frequency rate that is different than the frequency rate of said display screen. 15. The system of claim 1, wherein said high resolution display screen and said partially transparent mirror collocate and substantially perfectly match a virtual reality display volume and a haptic workspace to form the augmented reality environment. 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the software library provides calibration for matching of the haptic workspace and the virtual reality display volume. 17. The system of claim 1, wherein the software library provides 3-d modeling file formats permitting specification of polygonal surfaces and visual appearance and haptic material thereof. 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the visual appearance specifications permitted by the 3D modeling file format includes texture, color, shininess and transparency and the haptic material specifications include stiffness, viscosity, static friction, and dynamic friction. 19. The system of claim 1, wherein the partially transparent mirror, high resolution display screen and haptic touch device are oriented by the housing to have the user looking directly at the haptic touch device at the origin of a haptic coordinate system so that a line between the position of eyes of the user as determined by the head tracking device and the center of the haptic workspace is determined, and so that a virtual projection plane is located at the center of the haptic workspace and oriented perpendicular to that line. 20. The system of claim 1, wherein the head and hand tracking devices comprise an electromagnetic tracking system including head and hand receivers that cooperate with a transmitter located at a front side of the physical desktop workspace, the transmitter having a measurement rate that is different from a refresh rate of the high-resolution display screen.