Two-handed operations in virtual environment
The ever increasing need to design products with high quality and performance has led industries to advance their product prototyping methods. Particularly for the automotive and aeronautical industries, safety is one of the most critical parameters that designers have to take into consideration. Thereby, product prototyping processes have adopted virtual environments, where multi-sensory -visual, audio and touch senses- interaction for real-world simulation of products. Within these environments, various devices including keyboards, mice, and/or data-gloves are used as a natural and reasonable interface between humans and models. Despite that, user flexibility when navigating and manipulating these models is highly restricted due to ergonomic reasons, such as the relatively small covering of the possible workspace. Most importantly, these currently available devices provide only single-handed interaction with the virtual environment without taking into account reality where most operations are two-handed. For this reason, the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center has developed a novel two-handed input device. It is based on the SPACE MOUSE® technology, a 3D interface device that allows the movement control of viewpoints and objects simultaneously. The novel device comprises a high-resolution graphic display, coupled with two controllers with 6 degrees of freedom, one at each side of the screen. Aided by this device, the user is capable to guide-push, pull and rotate-a virtual 3D object in any direction with a single manoeuvre, in an intuitive way. Without offering realistic impressions like haptic devices, it allows flexible and simple manipulation and navigation in virtual environments. Especially designed for both assembly and disassembly applications this valuable device may operate either in single-handed or two-handed mode. Moreover, since no expert knowledge of abstract motion control commands is required, this user-friendly input device may be employed in every virtual reality application.
