Humanoid robots are a thing now, and here’s an interesting research project that explores using one as a form of haptic media. Specifically, using a humanoid robot to move a chair while one plays a VR driving simulator.
Here’s how it works: a Unitree G1 robot sits behind a player’s chair and grasps it with its hands. Spherical markers on the chair help the robot’s depth camera know the chair’s position, and real-time G-force signals fed from the simulator (Assetto Corsa, running on PC) tell the robot how much and in what direction to shift the chair to match in-simulator events.
While a humanoid robot (especially one equipped with articulated, human-like hands) makes for an awfully expensive force feedback chair, this approach is interesting because it specifically explores using an already-existing humanoid robot as a general-purpose device. It sits in a chair, looks with its camera, grasps with its hands, and moves the player’s chair in response to game events; no hardware modifications required.
So how well does it work? Pretty well, apparently! Participants found the synchronized motion feedback accurate and highly enjoyable, although it does seem like there were some rough edges. Some testers reported that the sustained motion and constant vibration were tiring, and in some cases seemed to worsen VR sickness.
Still, using a robot in this way seems to be a conceptual success and showcases the potential of humanoid robots as flexible, general-purpose devices. We’ve seen a robot used to provide interactive force feedback in VR before, but a driving simulator makes for a pretty fun demonstration.
The video is embedded below, and for more information, check out the team’s research paper.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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