Thesis Project Form

Grasping and manipulating objects is one of the most common actions humans perform in the real world, and the visual appearance of an object’s material composition is known to affect how we grasp it. In virtual and augmented reality however, the relationship between visual appearance and physical object properties may differ from the real world, and objects may even be incorporeal. This project aims to understand how these differences affect human grasping behaviours and strategies.

Objective 1: Does grasping in VR/AR differ from the real world?

We will conduct an experiment with human participants, consisting of 3 conditions:
Real: Grasps real objects
Virtual: Grasps to matching virtual objects
Augmented: Grasps virtual objects overlaid onto real objects
We will test whether grasp movements differ across conditions.

Objective 2: Do visually-perceived material properties affect grasping in VR/AR differently from the real world?

We will conduct an experiment with human participants, consisting of 4 conditions:
Real: Grasps real objects of varying materials
Virtual: Grasps to matching virtual objects
Augmented-Congruent: Grasps virtual objects overlaid onto real objects with matching material appearance
Augmented-Incongruent: Grasps virtual objects overlaid onto real objects with non-matching material appearance

We will test whether grasp movements to different materials differ across conditions, and how participants adapt to incongruent material appearance.

•Design virtual environments containing graspable 3D objects rendered with different material textures.
•Present these environments on VR headsets.
•Co-register objects in virtual environments with objects in the real world, tracked through a research-grade motion capture system (Qualisys).
•Design and execute behavioral experiments in which human participants grasp objects in real, virtual, and augmenter environments.