Oculus Rift Maintenance Simulator – LSI Inc, IITSEC 2013
Built on top of the Unity 3D game engine, the Oculus Rift Maintenance Simulator utilizes the Oculus Rift’s head tracking and stereoscopic 3D display immerse the user into the virtual world where the student performs various maintenance tasks on a Navy submarine in a cost-effective and easily accessible manner.
My Involvement and Responsibilities With This Simulator
- Sole programmer of the entire simulation including all scripted events, all user interaction, and all interfacing device interactions (Oculus Rift, Leap Motion, Xbox 360 Wireless Controller)
- Interfacing and sending user-performed events with a central networked server (LSI’s “LRS” event tracking server)
- Wrote system to translate Oculus Rift accelerometer movement and rotation data to translate 1:1 to a virtual avatar’s head rotation that moves independently of the avatar’s body which is separately controlled via an Xbox controller. This system is important as it solves the issue in the standard Oculus Rift tracking system of forcing the user to remain seated. With my system, the user is able to stand while using the device and the avatar’s head is able to move independently of the head, allowing for users to look down and view their body and the tools their avatars are holding.
- Wrote Leap Motion interaction to track user hand movements to allow users to “swipe” away text prompt instructions and pop-ups
- Scripted avatar animations and movement to work with the procedural animation system “Mecanim” within the Unity 3D engine. This allows for smooth, seamless animation transitions within the simulator
- Designed and laid out level, area triggers, and interaction locations
- Modeled and textured several art assets, including most of the surrounding submarine shell
- Coordinated, consolidated, and implemented art assets and animations provided by other artists on the project
Features
- Head rotation is tracked via the Oculus Rift’s internal accelerometers and translated 1:1 to the virtual avatar’s head and first-person camera movement
- A wireless Xbox 360 controller is used to interface with the simulator’s avatar movement. Analog stick movement, buttons, and trigger interaction inputted with the Xbox 360 controller are the same as most of today’s popular first-person video games, making it easily accessible to a wide range of students.
- A Leap Motion device is mounted vertically on the front of the Oculus Rift device tracks user hand movement and “swiping” motions to easily cycle through text prompts and pop-ups
Live demo of the Oculus Rift Maintenance Simulator featured at the at the LSI booth at IITSEC 2013.
The Oculus Rift Maintenance Simulator is property of LSI, Inc.
Filmed with permission.
PROPERTY OF LSI, INC
