Virtual Reality Floor Unit Mapping for Tactile Training
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Solution Overview
Problem
Virtual reality training systems lack the ability to provide realistic tactile interactions with virtual objects, limiting the effectiveness of training scenarios, particularly in environments requiring interaction with structures like walls for concealment or defense.
Innovation Solution
A virtual reality training system with a floor unit that includes a base, object members, and a mapping unit to compute corresponding positions for object installation, along with a lighting unit to simulate the virtual environment, allowing for tactile interaction by irradiating visible rays and supporting various object types with different sizes, shapes, textures, and scents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If virtual reality training provides only visual and auditory stimuli, then the system complexity is low, but the training effectiveness and realism are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces physical structure members as intermediaries between the virtual reality system and the trainee. These members are positioned in the physical space to correspond with virtual objects, allowing trainees to physically interact with them while receiving visual and auditory feedback from the VR system. This mediator enables tactile interaction without requiring a complete overhaul of the VR system architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates physical copies or representations of virtual objects through structure members that are positioned in the physical environment. These structure members replicate the spatial arrangement and key characteristics of virtual objects, allowing trainees to interact with physical surrogates that correspond to virtual targets, thereby enhancing realism without full physical reconstruction.
2Stability of the object's composition
If physical structures are added to enable tactile interaction, then the realism of training is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the physical training environment into discrete structure members that can be independently positioned and configured. Each structure member corresponds to a specific virtual object or feature, allowing the system to be scaled and reconfigured based on training requirements without requiring a complete physical environment for each scenario.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs structure members with universal characteristics that allow them to serve multiple functions across different training scenarios. The same physical structures can be reused for various training objectives by repositioning them or adjusting their configuration, reducing the need for specialized equipment for each training type.
3Reliability
If the virtual reality space is fully replicated in physical space, then the training realism is maximized, but the space and resource requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements selective physical replication by placing structure members only at specific locations where tactile interaction is necessary for training objectives. Rather than replicating the entire virtual environment physically, only critical interaction points are materialized in the physical space, optimizing the balance between realism and space efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent resolves the space conflict by operating in multiple dimensions: virtual objects exist in the digital 3D space of the VR environment, while their corresponding structure members are positioned in the physical 3D space at matched coordinates. This multi-dimensional approach allows full spatial fidelity without requiring physical replication of entire environments, as the correspondence is maintained through coordinate mapping rather than physical duplication.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the realism and effectiveness of virtual reality training by enabling trainees to interact with simulated structures, increasing the simulation's fidelity and allowing for complex configurations to be replicated in actual space.
Implementation Method 1
a lighting unit configured to irradiate visible rays towards the second position or irradiate visible rays from the second position
Data Source
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AI summary
A virtual reality training system and a floor unit for the virtual reality training system are disclosed. A virtual reality training system according to one aspect of the invention can include: a floor system having a base of a particular length and width; an object member configured to be detachably installed on the floor system; an input unit configured to assign a first position, which corresponds to the position of an object within a virtual reality space having a length and width smaller than or equal to the length and width of the base of the floor system; and a mapping unit configured to compute and output a second position, for installing the object member on the floor system, computed as a position on the floor system corresponding to the first position within the virtual reality space.