Keynotes

Renewed interest in space exploration is paving the way for humanity’s future among the stars, with ambitious new programs being launched aiming to establish human presence on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The realization of this vision will depend on the development of a new generation of reliable, safe, and efficient technologies, along with accompanying astronaut work procedures, to underpin future missions. Novel prototypes and procedures are typically developed, tested, and refined through field deployments in Earth-based analog environments. These environments, such as the underground cave systems in Sardinia, replicate some of the extreme conditions associated with extraterrestrial settings, thereby providing an operationally valid context for astronaut drills and prototype studies. While generally effective, this approach is facing criticism due to its logistical complexity and often prohibitive costs. In response, the European Space Agency (ESA) is exploring the potential of virtual and mixed reality technologies as a cost-effective alternative to these traditional analog environments. This talk will present ESA’s initiative, focusing on the benefits and limitations of using immersive and spatial interfaces in the context of human spaceflight. We will conclude by discussing how these interfaces might evolve as we look toward the future.

The talk presents how tangible objects could be used in Virtual Reality to enhance the user’s perception and immersion. In Virtual Reality, the user wearing a Head Mounted Display is generally unable to directly see the tangible objects and ends up confronting the virtual objects he sees to the tangible ones he can feel. This situation often leads to breaks of immersion, thus degrading the user’s experience in virtual environments.

The talk presents some of our latest contributions to handle the use of tangible objects for improving our 3D interaction with virtual worlds. The talk will illustrate first how and to what extent a discrepancy between the tangible objects and the virtual objects can be introduced without breaking the user’s immersion through different algorithmic strategies. In a second part, the talk will present how we could improve the registration between the tangible and the virtual objects using new technological solutions combined with appropriate 3D interaction techniques. At the end, the talk aims at introducing some of the next challenges in Virtual Reality for handling haptic feedback through the use of tangible objects.