Fiber optic based human computer interaction device for VR system

A wide variety of techniques for manipulating 3D objects in VR (Virtual Reality) systems have been implemented recently. But the shortcomings of the present interaction devices limit the types of manipulation that the user can perform in the virtual world. In this paper an interaction device that enables the user to interact with the virtual environment with different gestures is presented. By measuring the joint angles of the individual fingers with fiber optic sensors and tracking the relative position and orientation of the palm with AC (Alternating Current) pulsed magnetic tracker, the proposed interaction device can track an enormous variety of gestures and give the VR system remarkably rich expressive power. The relationship between the output of the fiber optic sensor and the actual flexure angle is studied. A digital phase sensitive detector is constructed and an iteration algorithm is used to extract the amplitudes of the received signals of the magnetoresistive sensors. The algorithm to calculate the spherical coordinates from the output of the accelerometers and magnetoresistive sensors is deducted. The design of the proposed interaction device and the experiment result are also presented.