Comparative Analysis of Kinect-Based and Oculus-Based Gaze Region Estimation Methods in a Driving Simulator

Driver's gaze information can be crucial in driving research because of its relation to driver attention. Particularly, the inclusion of gaze data in driving simulators broadens the scope of research studies as they can relate drivers' gaze patterns to their features and performance. In this paper, we present two gaze region estimation modules integrated in a driving simulator. One uses the 3D Kinect device and another uses the virtual reality Oculus Rift device. The modules are able to detect the region, out of seven in which the driving scene was divided, where a driver is gazing at in every route processed frame. Four methods were implemented and compared for gaze estimation, which learn the relation between gaze displacement and head movement. Two are simpler and based on points that try to capture this relation and two are based on classifiers such as MLP and SVM. Experiments were carried out with 12 users that drove on the same scenario twice, each one with a different visualization display, first with a big screen and later with Oculus Rift. On the whole, Oculus Rift outperformed Kinect as the best hardware for gaze estimation. The Oculus-based gaze region estimation method with the highest performance achieved an accuracy of 97.94%. The information provided by the Oculus Rift module enriches the driving simulator data and makes it possible a multimodal driving performance analysis apart from the immersion and realism obtained with the virtual reality experience provided by Oculus.

The Oculus Rift: a cost-effective tool for studying visual-vestibular interactions in self-motion perception

For years now, virtual reality devices have been applied in the field of vision science in an attempt to improve our understanding of perceptual principles underlying the experience of self-motion. Some of this research has been concerned with exploring factors involved in the visually-induced illusory perception of self-motion, known as vection. We examined the usefulness of the cost-effective Oculus Rift in generating vection in seated observers. This device has the capacity to display optic flow in world coordinates by compensating for tracked changes in 3D head orientation. We measured vection strength in three conditions of visual compensation for head movement: compensated, uncompensated, and inversely compensated. During presentation of optic flow, the observer was instructed to make periodic head oscillations (±22° horizontal excursions at approximately 0.53 Hz). We found that vection was best in the compensated condition, and was weakest in the inversely compensated condition. Surprisingly, vection was always better in passive viewing conditions, compared with conditions where active head rotations were performed. These findings suggest that vection is highly dependent on interactions between visual, vestibular and proprioceptive information, and may be highly sensitive to limitations of temporal lag in visual-vestibular coupling using this system.

Virtual reality visual feedback for hand-controlled scanning probe microscopy manipulation of single molecules

Controlled manipulation of single molecules is an important step towards the fabrication of single molecule devices and nanoscale molecular machines. Currently, scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is the only technique that facilitates direct imaging and manipulations of nanometer-sized molecular compounds on surfaces. The technique of hand-controlled manipulation (HCM) introduced recently in Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1926-1932 simplifies the identification of successful manipulation protocols in situations when the interaction pattern of the manipulated molecule with its environment is not fully known. Here we present a further technical development that substantially improves the effectiveness of HCM. By adding Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles to our HCM set-up we provide the experimentalist with 3D visual feedback that displays the currently executed trajectory and the position of the SPM tip during manipulation in real time, while simultaneously plotting the experimentally measured frequency shift (Δf) of the non-contact atomic force microscope (NC-AFM) tuning fork sensor as well as the magnitude of the electric current (I) flowing between the tip and the surface. The advantages of the set-up are demonstrated by applying it to the model problem of the extraction of an individual PTCDA molecule from its hydrogen-bonded monolayer grown on Ag(111) surface.