10 May 2024
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Mike Boland
AWE Talks: The Promise & Principles of Multi-sensory XR
AWE USA 2023
Welcome back to AWE Talks, our series that revisits the best of AWE’s conference sessions. The past year has seen rich insights from AWE USA, AWE Asia, and AWE Europe. And AWE USA 2024 is just around the corner.
This week, we dive into the promise and principles of multisensory XR. Can new dimensions of UX and immersion be achieved through senses like touch and smell? A multi-disciplinary panel breaks it down.
See the summarized takeaways below, along with the full session video. Stay tuned for more video highlights each week and check out the full library on AWE’s YouTube Channel.
Speakers
Laura Kusumoto
Linda Jacobson
Jacquelyn Morie
Kip Haynes
– We often think of XR experiences as being sight & sound driven, but what about other senses?
– The opportunity is to deepen the immersion and illusion with other sensory signals.
– Of course, some are more complicated than others, such as taste, which requires chemistry.
– Additional senses in VR simulations can not only add immersion but have a multiplying effect.
– Some senses can even enhance others: spatial audio can create more realistic haptics.
– For example, the sound of an egg cracking adds realism to haptic gloves that simulate the egg.
– Much of this was applied to Lowes Labs' Infinite VR Kitchen experience, using HaptX gloves.
– This experimental project lets users design and experience a kitchen remodel.
– It goes beyond standard kitchen remodel software to immerse users in the virtual space.
– Through designing and rolling out the experience, Lowes Labs learned a few valuable lessons.
– For one, building collision meshes for realistic haptics requires lots of trial and error.
– It requires creative thinking to simulate haptics for things like flowing water on your hand.
– It also requires varying states of a given object, such as the crushing egg example above.
– Also related to the egg example, sound design enhances the haptics' perceived resolution.
– Product avatars are also important, meaning 3D models that have signature interactions.
– Altogether, the playbook for touch-based VR is still being written, which is the exciting part...
For more examples and color from the panel, see the full session below...
