Immersive Desktop - Hand Tracking

Closed Human-Computer Interaction Computer Science Bachelor Master Project Thesis No Affiliation

Background

Hand Tracking is becoming more popular in immersive virtual reality (VR) with head-mounted displays (HMD). Devices like the Oculus Quest or the Varjo allow users to interact with their real hands in virtual environments. This interaction technique offers new possibilities for more natural interaction in virtual worlds.

However, not everyone has access to an HMD due to various reasons, and social VR is expected to support a wide range of diverse devices such as desktop PCs. Recent research has shown, that VR Controllers can improve the experience of a desktop user by giving him more control over the interaction with the virtual environment.

The next consequent step of these findings is to implement hand tracking for desktop users in virtual environments. There are already different solutions for hand tracking out there. Focusing on the real-time and the low-budget hardware aspects, building on top of a solution like media pipe could be a feasible approach.

Tasks

The topic will focus on the following tasks:

• Literatur research
• Look for suitable hand tracking frameworks, starting with media pipe
• Integrate the data stream into unity and map it on humanoid hand models
• Comparative user study with different input modalities
• Evaluation and presentation of results

Prerequisites

• Experience with Unity game engine
• Experience with conducting user studies
• High interest in state of the art research

Contact Persons at the University Würzburg