Interaction in the virtual reality world can prove to be somewhat difficult these days. Motion gestures aren’t always recorded properly, and eye-tracking technology just isn’t there yet. Scientists have come up with a new solution, which involves using your smile to interact with VR. The team at the Binghamton University are quite confident they mouth gestures can make a big impact in the VR industry moving forward. Whether or not this technology will be embraced by headset manufacturers, remains to be seen.
Mouth Gestures are the Next big Thing in VR
It is always good to see researchers, developers, or scientists come up with new ways to make technology more engaging. Especially when it comes to virtual reality, as this industry needs some interesting features to make it more appealing. One of the main hindrances is the process of interaction with a VR environment. Using controllers doesn’t do it justice, motion controls are a bit wonky, and eye-tracking certainly leaves much to be desired.
Whether or not mouth gestures will make a big impact, remains to be seen. The researchers as Binghamton University certainly feel there are opportunities waiting to be explored. Being able to interact with just a smile will certainly elevate things to a whole new level. The bigger question is whether or not headsets can integrate facial action recognition moving forward. Right now, most headsets only occlude the upper part of the face.
As a test, the researchers built a new framework to interpret mouth gestures. More specifically, this application can be loaded onto the existing head-mounted displays, by the look of things. Movement direction can be selected using head rotation. However, they could only move by using mouth gestures and eat the cake in this game by smiling. it sounds a lot stranger than it really is, but it shows there are opportunities to explore in this regard.
For the time being, it remains to be seen how mouth gestured will impact VR. Having a way to depict facial expressions and replicate them in VR is well worth looking into. It can also be a valuable addition for disabled patients, medical professionals, and military personnel. This new technology can make the experience a lot more realistic in the long run. It is an intriguing development, although its usefulness has yet to be determined.
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