Force Push is a novel VR technique that allows users to move objects with unprecedented nuance. Credit: Virginia Tech
In the interim, stalwart practitioners of Jedi ways and other Force-sensitive beings can look to the small screen and thank Virginia Tech researchers for a recently developed virtual reality technique called Force Push.
Force Push gives its users the ability to move faraway objects with Yoda-like calm, nuance, and focus using an approach for remote object manipulation in VR.
"You basically push the object in the direction you want it to move to, just like in Star Wars when the Jedi masters try to move an object that's placed remotely, they can push or pull it," said Run Yu, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science and the Institute for Creativity, Technology, and the Arts. Yu is first author on the recently published article in Frontiers in ICT detailing the research.
It's as simple as using subtle hand gestures to push, pull, or twirl objects. Users employ their bare hands using a natural gesture-to-action mapping for object manipulation in a VR setting.
"We wanted to try and do this without any device, just using your hands, and also do it with gestures in a way that's more playful," said Doug Bowman, the Frank J. Maher Professor of Computer Science and director of the Center for Human Computer Interaction.
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More information: Run Yu et al. Force Push: Exploring Expressive Gesture-to-Force Mappings for Remote Object Manipulation in Virtual Reality, Frontiers in ICT (2018). DOI: 10.3389/fict.2018.00025