Haptic terrain rendering is limited in existing Virtual Reality (VR) systems. This paper describes integration of the Smart Shoe (SS) for physical terrain display with the TreadPort VR system. The SS renders both gross sloped terrain and subtle sensations of stepping on small objects or uneven surfaces. The TreadPort projects terrain on the floor and the SS renders terrain that the user steps upon via motion tracking. The research is motivated towards eventually providing gait training for people with Parkinson's Disease (PD), hence this work presents a pilot study evaluating haptic terrain rendering with healthy elderly and PD participants wearing the SS within the TreadPort. Uneven cobblestone surfaces are rendered by the SS as the participant steps on their graphical representation in VR. While post hoc analysis shows the study is underpowered, kinematic and spatiotemporal results derived from motion capture data demonstrates kinesthetic response (e.g., increased maximum ankle angle and minimum toe clearance, reduced minimum ankle angle and knee angle) provided by the SS. Questionnaire data shows increased VR realism and difficulty walking on cobbled terrain using SS rendering. Thus, results indicate that the integrated haptic system demonstrates promise in potential gait training for PD in future work.

中文翻译：

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使用智能鞋物理渲染增强虚拟现实地形显示：一项试点研究

触觉地形渲染在现有的虚拟现实 (VR) 系统中受到限制。本文描述了用于物理地形显示的 Smart Shoe (SS) 与 TreadPort VR 系统的集成。SS 既可以呈现粗斜的地形，也可以呈现踩在小物体或不平坦表面上的微妙感觉。TreadPort 在地板上投射地形，SS 通过运动跟踪渲染用户踩到的地形。该研究旨在最终为帕金森氏病 (PD) 患者提供步态训练，因此这项工作提出了一项试点研究，该研究评估了在 TreadPort 内佩戴 SS 的健康老年人和 PD 参与者的触觉地形渲染。当参与者在 VR 中踩到他们的图形表示时，SS 会渲染不平整的鹅卵石表面。虽然事后分析显示该研究动力不足，但从运动捕捉数据得出的运动学和时空结果证明了 SS 提供的动觉反应（例如，增加的最大脚踝角度和最小脚趾间隙，减少最小脚踝角度和膝盖角度）。问卷数据显示，使用 SS 渲染增强了 VR 逼真度，并在鹅卵石地形上行走困难。因此，结果表明集成触觉系统在未来工作中对 PD 的潜在步态训练显示出前景。问卷数据显示，使用 SS 渲染增强了 VR 逼真度，并在鹅卵石地形上行走困难。因此，结果表明集成触觉系统在未来工作中对 PD 的潜在步态训练显示出前景。问卷数据显示使用 SS 渲染增加了 VR 逼真度和在鹅卵石地形上行走的难度。因此，结果表明集成触觉系统在未来工作中对 PD 的潜在步态训练显示出前景。