Meta Flowers: An Analogy of Life in the XR Era

ABSTRACT

“Meta Flowers” is a multiparticipant installation artwork with Cross Reality (XR) . Wearing a glove-type tactile device consisting of linear resonant actuators (LRA) and a microcontroller with Wi-Fi unit, and HoloLens 2, participants can experience XR through the act of arranging virtual flowers (VFs) which have ‘shadow,’ ‘rigid-body,’ and ‘sound (see Figure 1 (a)).’ The VF blooms at the location of the VIVE Tracker, which is installed at the tip of a metal rod inserted into a vase on the table (see Figure 1 (b) (c)). Real shadows of the vases, sticks, and artificial flowers, as well as the virtual shadows of the VFs, are projected onto the table by the light and images projected from the projector installed on the celling, creating a fusion that is not unnatural. Participants can move the VFs and arrange them in vases on the table. When participants touch the VF, petals of the VF fall and participants get tactile sensations through the haptics glove (see Figure 1 (d)). VFs play sounds while they are in bloom, and their pitch change depending on the position of them. In the other words, the sound and appearance of VFs will change depending on the relationship among participants and VFs. In addition, when real water is poured by the sensor-equipped jug into a vase in which a metal rod without petals is put, the VF blooms again (see Figure 1 (e) (f)).

References

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