com_op_2000
DVC Member since '93; One Hour from WDW
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- Jul 13, 2010
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At Walt Disney World, fast rides give park guests a range of thrilling sensations, from the spine-tingling drop of Tower of Terror to the light-headed joy of Space Mountain or the adrenaline rush of Test Track.
But can the same thing be accomplished with a simple chair and a few expertly placed vibrating actuators?
Researchers taking part in the Emerging Technology Exhibition at this weeks SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver might find out.
SIGGRAPH (which is short for Special Interest Group on GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics and technologies. Scientists from Disney Research Pittsburgh and others from Carnegie Mellon University are there this week, demonstrating their version of a tactile technology called Surround Haptics.
The technology employs vibrating actuators that, when manipulated, give participants the sensation of physical conditions such as falling, accelerating, striking objects in a collision and other sensations. Clearly, such a technology can go a long way toward making various computer games and simulations more thrilling and realistic. Think Disney Quest on steroids or 3D Disney movies one step closer to real holodeck status.
But the concept is more than just a vibrating object on your skin. The process being developed by Disney researchers actually creates a common brain trick, in that when several actuators are placed on the skin at a distance, a single pulse is felt in between the two sites of vibration.
According to researchers, this allows participants of Surround Haptics to experience discrete, continuous motions. Researchers say this is best exemplified by a finger tracing a pattern on skin.
Though the phenomenon of phantom sensations caused by actuators has been known for more than half a century, Disney Research Pittsburgh scientists have perfected their process by designing an algorithm for controlling an array of actuators and, in essence, fine-tuning the experience and making it more life-like.
Ivan Poupyrev, a senior research scientist at Disney Research Pittsburgh who invented Surround Haptics with Ali Israr, also of Disney Research Pittsburgh, said the technology might one day be embedded into clothes, sports equipment or mobile devices.
And just importantly, Poupyrev suggests on a Web page for SIGGRAPH 2011, Surround Haptics can expand and deepen our understanding of tactile perception.
At the conference in Vancouver, researchers will present a couple of demonstrations of their ideas. One will involve a driving simulator game that will give participants tactile sensations of accelerated driving and braking, and it will even let users experience various road conditions, too.
In another display of the technology at the conference, a custom chair will be outfitted with padding and embedded tactile grids, and the participant will use the Surround Haptics process to control a game with body gestures.
According to a press release about the demonstrations, researchers think the concept could even be expanded beyond computer games, movies and attraction rides. It might one day help blind people better communicate, they say, and it could aid athletes and even emergency workers.
As Poupyrev says, The possibilities are endless.
Its easy to think that the man who once said, If you can dream it, you can do it would certainly understand that kind of optimism and the sensation it has the potential to produce
But can the same thing be accomplished with a simple chair and a few expertly placed vibrating actuators?
Researchers taking part in the Emerging Technology Exhibition at this weeks SIGGRAPH 2011 in Vancouver might find out.
SIGGRAPH (which is short for Special Interest Group on GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques) is an annual conference on computer graphics and technologies. Scientists from Disney Research Pittsburgh and others from Carnegie Mellon University are there this week, demonstrating their version of a tactile technology called Surround Haptics.
The technology employs vibrating actuators that, when manipulated, give participants the sensation of physical conditions such as falling, accelerating, striking objects in a collision and other sensations. Clearly, such a technology can go a long way toward making various computer games and simulations more thrilling and realistic. Think Disney Quest on steroids or 3D Disney movies one step closer to real holodeck status.
But the concept is more than just a vibrating object on your skin. The process being developed by Disney researchers actually creates a common brain trick, in that when several actuators are placed on the skin at a distance, a single pulse is felt in between the two sites of vibration.
According to researchers, this allows participants of Surround Haptics to experience discrete, continuous motions. Researchers say this is best exemplified by a finger tracing a pattern on skin.
Though the phenomenon of phantom sensations caused by actuators has been known for more than half a century, Disney Research Pittsburgh scientists have perfected their process by designing an algorithm for controlling an array of actuators and, in essence, fine-tuning the experience and making it more life-like.
Ivan Poupyrev, a senior research scientist at Disney Research Pittsburgh who invented Surround Haptics with Ali Israr, also of Disney Research Pittsburgh, said the technology might one day be embedded into clothes, sports equipment or mobile devices.
And just importantly, Poupyrev suggests on a Web page for SIGGRAPH 2011, Surround Haptics can expand and deepen our understanding of tactile perception.
At the conference in Vancouver, researchers will present a couple of demonstrations of their ideas. One will involve a driving simulator game that will give participants tactile sensations of accelerated driving and braking, and it will even let users experience various road conditions, too.
In another display of the technology at the conference, a custom chair will be outfitted with padding and embedded tactile grids, and the participant will use the Surround Haptics process to control a game with body gestures.
According to a press release about the demonstrations, researchers think the concept could even be expanded beyond computer games, movies and attraction rides. It might one day help blind people better communicate, they say, and it could aid athletes and even emergency workers.
As Poupyrev says, The possibilities are endless.
Its easy to think that the man who once said, If you can dream it, you can do it would certainly understand that kind of optimism and the sensation it has the potential to produce
