Interacting with Augmented Floor Surfaces - Human Walking in Virtual Environments - page 368

Chapter 17
Interacting with Augmented Floor Surfaces

Yon Visell, Severin Smith and Jeremy R. Cooperstock

Abstract This chapter reviews techniques and technologies for interaction via the
feet with touch-sensitive floor surfaces that are augmented with multimodal (visual,
auditory, and/or haptic) feedback. We discuss aspects of human-computer interaction
with such interfaces, including potential applications in virtual and augmented reality
for floor based user interfaces and immersive walking simulations. Several realiza-
tions of augmented floor surfaces are discussed, and we review one case example that
has been extensively investigated by the authors, along with evaluations that have
been reported in prior literature. Potential applications in the domains of human-
computer interaction and virtual reality are also reviewed.

17.1 Introduction

Despite growing interest in foot-based interaction for computationally augmented
environments, there has been limited research to date on the design of interactions for
such interfaces, or their usability. Two factors that may have contributed to this state of
affairs are the lack of standard displays and techniques for installing computationally
augmented floors (see Fig. 17.1 for an example), and the limited range and realism
of the feedback that they are able to provide. In the present chapter, we review
techniques for interacting with computationally augmented floor surfaces, including

( B )
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, Drexel University,
Philadelphia, PA19104, USA
e-mail: [e-mail]
S. Smith

Y. Vi s e l l

J. R. Cooperstock
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
e-mail: [e-mail]
J. R. Cooperstock
e-mail: [e-mail]

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