How are immersive experiences realized through sensory modalities and avatars in the Metaverse?

A metaverse is a space where the real and virtual interact to create immersive experiences. Sensory delivery devices such as HMDs and virtual reality gloves deliver sight and touch, while motion tracking systems and virtual reality treadmills reflect the user’s movements onto an avatar to create a realistic experience.

 

The term “metaverse” is a combination of “meta,” meaning “beyond,” and “universe,” meaning “world,” and refers to a space where the real and virtual worlds actively interact. Rather than simply existing in a virtual world, the metaverse creates a new dimension where users can actually interact and share experiences within the virtual space.
A sensory delivery device is a device that delivers sensations to the user that are set to be seen and touched by an avatar representing the user in the metaverse. This allows users to immerse themselves in the metaverse while experiencing the virtual space in a realistic way. For example, by wearing a virtual reality headset, users can immerse themselves in the virtual world in front of them.

 

 

HMDs, which are sensory devices, deliver parallaxed images that represent virtual space to both eyes of the user. As the brain assembles the transmitted images, the user can feel the three-dimensionality of space and objects. This gives the user the feeling of actually being in the space, rather than just looking at a screen.
A device that delivers sensory responses directly to the user’s hands as if they were touching an object in virtual space is a virtual reality glove. Virtual reality gloves are designed to allow the user to feel the size, shape, and temperature of virtual objects that the avatar is touching in the virtual space. In addition to this, virtual reality gloves can make the avatar move in response to the user’s finger and arm movements. This allows users to interact with the virtual world in a more natural and intuitive way.
On the other hand, spatial locomotion devices that transmit the user’s movements to the avatar allow users to have an immersive metaverse experience. A virtual reality treadmill, which is a spatial locomotion device, is installed in a defined space and supports the movement of the floor to allow the user to move in 360 degrees. This allows users to replicate the motion of walking or running in real life in the virtual world.
The motion tracking system used with virtual reality treadmills is a system that synchronizes the avatar’s movements with the user’s movements and consists of motion tracking sensors, inertial measurement sensors, and pressure sensors. Motion tracking sensors capture the user’s movements, while inertial sensors measure the rate of change in the user’s speed of movement and rotation. Pressure sensors measure the pressure between different objects. If you run in shoes with a pressure sensor attached to the bottom, the pressure sensor can detect the pressure between the ground and the sole of your foot and determine the force with which you run. The motion tracking system relays your motion information to the computer, which then controls the base of the treadmill to match the direction and speed of your movement. In this way, the movement of the treadmill changes according to the user’s movement, but also the speed, direction, and inclination of the treadmill floor changes according to the environmental changes in the virtual space where the avatar exists.
Additionally, auditory and olfactory stimuli are important to enhance the immersion of the metaverse. For example, 3D audio technology allows users to feel the sounds of the virtual world from different directions, which further enhances the sense of reality. Similarly, scent generation devices can deliver the scent of a specific virtual environment, allowing users to experience the metaverse through a variety of senses.
These various sensory delivery devices and technologies combine to make the experience more realistic by changing the scene of the virtual space displayed on the HMD as the user’s movement or the treadmill’s behavior changes. As a result, the metaverse gives the user the feeling of actually being in the space and allows them to interact with the virtual world through multiple senses.