Augmented Fear of Heights

Posted on April 30, 2009 by rouli

Those crazy kids at Georgia Tech. In the last couple of days, we have seen augmented reality used to make you laugh, amazed and uncomfortable, so naturally someone, somehow had to make you scared. That’s where Georgia Tech comes into the picture –

… we are interested in how to create systems where the user loses the sense of mediation, and begins to respond to being immersed in a blended physical/virtual as if it was a single “world.”

Our approach to exploring AR and Presence has been to develop an AR presence questionnaire in parallel with a physiological presence experiment analogous to the UNC VR “pit” experiment, which leverages a strong physiological reaction (fear of heights) to measure presence.

The experiment asked the participants to preform certain tasks around that pit, while their heart rate, galvanic skin response and skin temperature were measured. By doing so, the researchers hoped to develope a quantitative measurement of how immersive was the AR experience. Sadly, they don’t report on their results yet, but you can tell from the video that some participants were shaken by the event.
Next time, they’ll confront volunteers with an approaching virtual train and have paramedics on stand-by.

More details here.

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12 Responses

  1. turtlethink.com | Measuring ‘presence’ in augmented environments, on April 30, 2009 at 12:28 pm said:

    […] Tech Augmented Environments Lab], via [Games Alfresco] var addthis_pub = ‘pfayn’; var addthis_language = ‘en’;var addthis_options = ’email, favorites, […]

  2. Thomas K Carpenter, on April 30, 2009 at 8:07 pm said:

    Having played the old VR game Dactyl Nightmare, I can tell you even a blocky unrealistic enviroment can give you enough motion cues to emerse you in the enviroment. When I got dropped from a virtual height of about 100 feet, it felt like I was falling and my hands reached out to grab something, even though I was on solid ground.

  3. darkflame, on May 1, 2009 at 4:38 am said:

    I would really love to try this.
    It dosnt supprise me the sensation is strong though…as even flat videogames can trigger all sorts of emotions.

  4. Augmented Fear of Heights « Games Alfresco | The Matrix Data Bank, on May 1, 2009 at 5:08 am said:

    […] Augmented Fear of Heights « Games Alfresco: “Those crazy kids at Georgia Tech. In the last couple of days, we have seen augmented reality used to make you laugh, amazed and uncomfortable, so naturally someone, somehow had to make you scared. That’s where Georgia Tech comes into the picture -” […]

  5. David, on May 1, 2009 at 5:16 am said:

    I used to have a pair of LCD-shutter based 3D glasses that allowed me to play PC games in 3D. I found it mostly a novelty, except for when I played the game “Thief” in which case it turned the game into the most immersive experience ever. With the lights in the room off, and headphones on, I had a similar-to-VR experience, albeit without head tracking. The game involves sneaking around various environments, and includes one level where the character walks across planks over a similar pit. I can attest that the experience was pretty intense.

  6. links for 2009-05-02 | Nerdcore, on May 2, 2009 at 11:02 pm said:

    […] Augmented Fear of Heights (tags: augmented-reality) […]

  7. Weekly Linkfest « Games Alfresco, on May 3, 2009 at 9:37 am said:

    […] Posts Augmented Fear of HeightsTop 10 augmented reality demos that will revolutionize video gamesAugmented Comedy10 best augmented […]

  8. Augmented Reality Year in Review – 2009 « The Future Digital Life, on January 5, 2010 at 11:41 am said:

    […] notable things that happened in April – Georgia Tech fear of heights video (another peak into the future of augmented reality as a perception changer), Rouli’s call for […]

  9. Vuzix Wrap 920AR Video Eyewear at CES 2010 « The Future Digital Life, on January 9, 2010 at 4:11 pm said:

    […] interesting house-only interactive avatars or AR spaces.  While some might scoff at this idea, see this video from Georgia Tech last year to see how even semi-cheesy graphics can make augmented reality immersive.  Having […]

  10. Vuzix Wrap 920AR Video Eyewear at CES 2010 « Games Alfresco, on January 9, 2010 at 4:13 pm said:

    […] interesting house-only interactive avatars or AR spaces. While some might scoff at this idea, see this video from Georgia Tech last year to see how even semi-cheesy graphics can make augmented reality immersive. Having played […]

  11. GeorgiaTech: Fear of heights | NeRVi, on January 17, 2010 at 4:43 am said:

    […] via Games Alfresco and Augmented Environments Lab […]

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