Motion Control Seat Input Device for Uncoupled VR Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional input devices for immersive computer environments, such as those used in VR and AR, are poorly suited for intuitive control, often causing instability, motion sickness, and are cumbersome due to cable management issues and uncoupled look/move functions.
Innovation Solution
A modular ergonomic seating device that measures the user's torso angle and feeds it back to the application, allowing for uncoupled head movement while using core muscle movements for directional control, with integrated sensors and a rotary slip connector design to manage cables and prevent tangling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional input devices are used for VR control, then hand-based input is achieved, but immersion is broken and user experience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional hand-based mechanical input devices (keyboards, mice, controllers) with a motion-based system that uses the user's body movements, detected by sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers), to control the virtual environment. This substitution eliminates physical input devices that break immersion and enables natural, intuitive control through body motion.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the pivot point for movement is further from the user's hips, then the range of motion increases, but the user has to move their body further creating instability and motion sickness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the pivot point location parameter to be closer to the user's hips rather than further away. This parameter change reduces the distance the user's center of gravity must move during virtual movement, thereby maintaining adaptability for various motion ranges while minimizing body displacement that causes instability and motion sickness.
3Stability of the object's composition
If ballast is added to counteract instability, then resistance force increases, but the problem of instability is not truly corrected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the need for ballast by fundamentally changing the control mechanism. Instead of adding weight to counteract instability, the system uses sensors to detect user motion and translates this motion into virtual environment control, extracting the problematic mechanical stabilization approach and replacing it with a motion-sensing solution that maintains stability without increasing resistance force.
4Ease of operation
If the user moves their body to create movement in VR, then directional control is achieved, but cable management becomes problematic and tangling occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a rotary slip connector as an intermediary component between the moving seat and the fixed cable system. This connector allows the seat to rotate and move freely in response to user directional control inputs while the slip connector prevents cables from tangling by allowing them to slide and rotate without binding, thus mediating between responsive motion control and cable management.
5Adaptability or versatility
If uncoupled look/move functions are implemented, then head movement independence is achieved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the control functions into independent components: head movement (tracked by the head-mounted display sensors) and body movement (tracked by the seat sensors). This segmentation allows uncoupled look/move functionality where the user can independently control viewing direction with their head while the seat handles positional movement, with each segment processed separately by the system.
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
Enables precise and intuitive control in VR environments with reduced instability and motion sickness, while maintaining ergonomic comfort and efficient cable management, allowing users to interact with computing devices using natural body movements.
Implementation Method 1
a rotary encoder that keeps track of the orientation of a user's body
Data Source
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AI summary
An input device for providing user input to a computing device includes a seat portion allowing a user to sit on the device. The input device further includes several positional sensors that detect changes in pitch, yaw and roll and convert those detected changes to a control signal for operating functions on a computing device and/or providing input to applications running on the computing device.