CACM logo

ACM News

Augmented-Reality Floor Tiling

[article image]
Yon Visell

Researchers at McGill University in Montreal, Canada have developed floor tiles that can simulate the look, sound and feel of snow, grass or pebbles underfoot. Such a tool could perhaps be used for augmented reality applications, tele-presence, training, rehabilitation or even as virtual foot controllers.

The modular "haptic" floor tiling system is made up of a deformable plate suspended on a platform. Between the plate and platform are sensors that detect forces from the user's foot. And the plate can give off vibrations that mimic the feeling of stepping on different materials. A top-down projection and speakers add visual and audio feedback.

Yon Visell, a researcher at McGill's Center for Intelligent Machines and first author of the paper, says the tiles could be used "either for human computer interaction or immersive virtual reality applications."

From Technology Review
View Full Article

Post a comment...
Name: Anonymous

Signed and anonymous comments submitted to this site are moderated and will appear if they are relevant to the topic and not abusive. Your comment will appear with your username if you are signed into the site, and will be anonymous if you are not signed in. View our policy on comments

Tools For Readers

Bookmark and Share
Default Font Size Large Font Size X-Large Font Size Text Size

Related ACM Resources

Conferences:

Courses:

  • Introduction to Programming - Explore how to describe features of prevalent programming languages, describe the phases of software development, explain the general functionality provided by conditional statements, relational operators …

About Communications | Join ACM External Link | Renew External Link | Subscribe External Link | Sign In | For Authors | For Advertisers External Link | Privacy | Site Map | Help | Contact Us | Mobile Site

Copyright © 2012 by the ACM. All rights reserved.