High-resolution immersive interactive visualization systems allow users to explore and understand data from a first person perspective using natural techniques. Immersive visualization improves spatial understanding, enables training in safe yet realistic environments and allows the understanding of and interaction with data in an intuitive way. Particularly, researchers and students in engineering, science and the humanities can benefit from high-definition immersive visualization systems because many times the nature of the data in those disciplines is spatial and highly detailed. Within this context, this Major Research Instrumentation award allows Duke University to build the High-fidelity Duke immersive Virtual Environment (HiDiVE). Built on the success of the Duke immersive Virtual Environment (DiVE) over the past decade, the HiDiVE will consist of a six-sided room in the form of a cube, with two projectors for each surface, in a total resolution of 22.1 million pixels. This level of detail is roughly four times what the current DiVE system has and will allow for analysis of high-resolution data. Motion trackers will enable users to interact with data in the HiDiVE using natural and intuitive motions. This next generation system opens the possibility for research and education projects using high-definition data and computer graphics.
Dr. Regis Kopper, along with co-investigators Dr. Kevin LaBar and Dr. Silvia Ferrari, six senior personnel and five users will initially use the HiDiVE in projects spanning several areas of knowledge, including cognitive neuroscience, intelligent systems and control, digital archeology and human-factors engineering. Specifically, the HiDiVE will support studies to understand human fear recovery and response to stress triggers. The HiDiVE will also be used for human-robot interaction experiments, particularly in the understanding of human-decision making to design robots that mimic human behavior and to validate robotic path planning. Another use of the HiDiVE will be in digital archeology, where users will be able to experience virtual dig sites, explore artifacts, stratigraphy, and conceptual reconstructions of pre-historic sites. In human-factors engineering, the HiDiVE will be a platform for studying the motions of humans doing repetitive work and how visual complexity may impact human mental workload. Apart from being a research facility, the HiDiVE will support educational and outreach activities. Students will use the system as a development platform for computer science and human-computer interaction courses. The HiDiVE will partner with the NSF IGERT on Wireless Intelligent Sensor Networks (WISeNet)to recruitand support minority students to engage in research activities and will be an inclusive environment with reach beyond the boundaries of the university, allowing visitors from schools and underrepresented groups to experience an advanced immersive virtual reality system.
