A Thermally Enhanced Weather Checking System in VR

ABSTRACT

In this project, by combining thermal feedback with Virtual Reality (VR) and utilizing thermal stimuli to present temperature data of weather, we attempted to provide a multi-sensory experience for enhancing users' perception of environment in virtual space. By integrating thermal modules with the current VR head mounted display to provide thermal feedback directly on the face, and by setting thermal stimulus to provide similar feeling towards real air temperature, we developed an application in which users are able to "feel" the weather in VR environment. An user experiment was also conducted to evaluate our design, according to which we verified that thermal feedback can improve users' experience in perceiving environment, and this research also provided a new approach for setting thermal feedback for presenting environmental information in virtual space.

References

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Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Human computer interaction (HCI)