SimCrane 3D+: A crane simulator with kinesthetic and stereoscopic vision

Crane operation training using virtual crane simulators has been introduced in the last decade. It can reduce the costs associated with renting actual cranes and enables operator training for a range of tasks in virtual environment. However, a critical drawback common to most existing simulators is a lack of realistic simulation for the depth perception, which usually relies on stereoscopic vision and head motion to increase the precision of depth perception. This research aimed at adopting kinesthetic vision and stereoscopic vision into a virtual crane simulator to increase its training effectiveness. Kinesthetic vision generates corrected perspective images based on the head position of the viewer. Stereoscopic vision is to generate separated images for left and right eyes respectively. A crane simulator known as SimCrane 3D⁺ was developed and implemented to achieve the goal. We performed user tests to evaluate the proposed system by both subjective and objective factors. The results showed that the system provide better simulation for depth perception. Operators increase their confidences in the tests. They also reported using SimCrane 3D⁺ is more intuitive than the simulator without stereoscopic or kinesthetic visions.     

The contribution of virtual reality to research on sensory feedback in remote control

Here we consider research on the kinds of sensory information most effective as feedback during remote control of machines, and the role of virtual reality and telepresence in that research. We argue that full automation is a distant goal and that remote control deserves continued attention and improvement. Visual feedback to controllers has developed in various ways but autostereoscopic displays have yet to be proven. Haptic force feedback, in both real and virtual settings, has been demonstrated to offer much to the remote control environment and has led to a greater understanding of the kinesthetic and cutaneous components of haptics, and their role in multimodal processes, such as sensory capture and integration. We suggest that many displays using primarily visual feedback would benefit from the addition of haptic information but that much is yet to be learned about optimizing such displays.