Open Medical Gesture: An Open-Source Experiment in Naturalistic Physical Interactions for Mixed and Virtual Reality Simulations

TL;DR

This paper introduces Open Medical Gesture, an open-source toolkit for naturalistic hand interactions in VR and MR, aiming to improve user experience by eliminating traditional controllers and enabling direct hand control with sensor-independent hardware.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel open-source toolkit that facilitates sensor-independent, natural hand interactions in VR/MR, enhancing realism and usability in simulation environments.

Findings

Developed a sensor-independent hand interaction toolkit

Identified best practices for intuitive VR hand controls

Enabled realistic manipulation of virtual objects

Abstract

Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) simulations are hampered by requirements for hand controllers or attempts to perseverate in use of two-dimensional computer interface paradigms from the 1980s. From our efforts to produce more naturalistic interactions for combat medic training for the military, USC has developed an open-source toolkit that enables direct hand controlled responsive interactions that is sensor independent and can function with depth sensing cameras, webcams or sensory gloves. Natural approaches we have examined include the ability to manipulate virtual smart objects in a similar manner to how they are used in the real world. From this research and review of current literature, we have discerned several best approaches for hand-based human computer interactions which provide intuitive, responsive, useful, and low frustration experiences for VR users.