The Effect That Touching a Projection Augmented Model Has on Object-Presence

Abstract

A Projection Augmented Model (PA model) is a type of projection based haptic Augmented Reality display. It consists of a real physical model, onto which a computer image is projected to create a realistic looking object. Users can physically touch the surface of a PA model with their bare hands, which has clear experiential value for the types of applications for which they are being developed. However, the majority of PA models are front-projected and do not provide haptic feedback for material properties (e.g. temperature and physical texture), which suggests a user's sense of objectpresence will be reduced when this type of PA model is touched. (Object-presence measures the subjective feeling that the object the PA model represents exists in a person's environment, as opposed to a white physical model and a projected computer image.) Alternatively, if people consider PA models to be essentially computer generated objects (i.e. it is the projected image that gives the 'dummy' physical model meaning), then the act of being able to touch computer generated information may increase object-presence. The empirical investigation reported in this paper found that object-presence was lower when this type of PA model was touched. The implications these results have for both PA models and other types of displays, are discussed.

The Effect that the Visual and Haptic Problems Associated with Touching a Projection Augmented Model Have on Object-Presence

“…Finally, it is worth highlighting that the results confirm the findings of previous work (Bennett & Stevens, 2005); the majority of participants reported that objectpresence was lower when the Front-Projected ϩ FeelsIncorrect (i.e., simple) PA model was touched, compared to when it was perceived through vision alone (Figure 3). …”

“…Indeed, previous work has shown that touch is very sensitive for perceiving material properties (see Klatzky & Lederman, 2003 for a review). Previous research supports the prediction that touching a simple PA model reduces object-presence, however, it is not clear from this research why this occurs; that is, the relative contributions of the above mentioned problems are unknown (Bennett & Stevens, 2005).…”

“…An additional condition was included in part 1, in which participants used the Front-Projected ϩ FeelsIncorrect (i.e., simple) PA model without touching it. This was to verify the reliability of a previous study that found that touching a simple PA model decreased object-presence (Bennett & Stevens, 2005). Therefore, in part 1 there were actually five conditions with different participants in each; four touch conditions and one NoTouch condition.…”

“…It consists of a physical three-dimensional model, onto which a computer image is projected to create a realistic looking object. For example, the PA model in Figure 1 consists of smooth white plaster models of various objects that are commonly found in a garden shed (Bennett & Stevens, 2005). The image projected onto these objects provides color and visual texture, which makes them appear to be made from different materials.…”

Analysing engaging experiences with a tangible 3D tabletop

“…Several researchers -Raskar et al [19], Bandyopadhyay et al [1], Raskar and Bimber [18], Bennett and Stevens [2,3] have explored technical challenges associated with the creation of realistic looking objects by projecting computergenerated images on neutral, three-dimensional physical objects.…”