TY - JOUR
T1 - Hiding Assistive Robots During Training in Immersive VR Does Not Affect Users’ Motivation, Presence, Embodiment, Performance, Nor Visual Attention
AU - Wenk, Nicolas
AU - Jordi, Mirjam V.
AU - Buetler, Karin A.
AU - Marchal-Crespo, Laura
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Combining immersive virtual reality (VR) using head-mounted displays (HMDs) with assisting robotic devices might be a promising procedure to enhance neurorehabilitation. However, it is still an open question how immersive virtual environments (VE) should be designed when interacting with rehabilitation robots. In conventional training, the robot is usually not visually represented in the VE, resulting in a visuo-haptic sensory conflict between what users see and feel. This study aimed to investigate how motivation, embodiment, and presence are affected by this visuo-haptic sensory conflict. Using an HMD and a rehabilitation robot, 28 healthy participants performed a path-tracing task, while the robot was either visually reproduced in the VE or not and while the robot either assisted the movements or not. Participants’ performance and visual attention were measured during the tasks, and after each visibility/assistance condition, they reported their motivation, presence, and embodiment with questionnaires. We found that, independently of the assistance, the robot visibility did not affect participants’ motivation, presence, embodiment, nor task performance. We only found a greater effort/importance reported when the robot was visible. The visual attention was also slightly affected by the robot’s visibility. Importantly, we found that the robotic assistance hampered presence and embodiment, but improved motivation. Our results indicate no disadvantage of not reproducing robotic devices in VEs when using HMDs. However, caution must be put when developing assisting controllers, as they might hamper users’ affect.
AB - Combining immersive virtual reality (VR) using head-mounted displays (HMDs) with assisting robotic devices might be a promising procedure to enhance neurorehabilitation. However, it is still an open question how immersive virtual environments (VE) should be designed when interacting with rehabilitation robots. In conventional training, the robot is usually not visually represented in the VE, resulting in a visuo-haptic sensory conflict between what users see and feel. This study aimed to investigate how motivation, embodiment, and presence are affected by this visuo-haptic sensory conflict. Using an HMD and a rehabilitation robot, 28 healthy participants performed a path-tracing task, while the robot was either visually reproduced in the VE or not and while the robot either assisted the movements or not. Participants’ performance and visual attention were measured during the tasks, and after each visibility/assistance condition, they reported their motivation, presence, and embodiment with questionnaires. We found that, independently of the assistance, the robot visibility did not affect participants’ motivation, presence, embodiment, nor task performance. We only found a greater effort/importance reported when the robot was visible. The visual attention was also slightly affected by the robot’s visibility. Importantly, we found that the robotic assistance hampered presence and embodiment, but improved motivation. Our results indicate no disadvantage of not reproducing robotic devices in VEs when using HMDs. However, caution must be put when developing assisting controllers, as they might hamper users’ affect.
KW - attention
KW - Avatars
KW - embodiment
KW - gaze
KW - head-mounted display
KW - motivation
KW - presence
KW - rehabilitation
KW - Resists
KW - robot
KW - Robot sensing systems
KW - Robots
KW - Task analysis
KW - Training
KW - upper-limb
KW - virtual reality
KW - Visualization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124096798&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TNSRE.2022.3147260
DO - 10.1109/TNSRE.2022.3147260
M3 - Article
C2 - 35085087
AN - SCOPUS:85124096798
SN - 1534-4320
VL - 30
SP - 390
EP - 399
JO - IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
JF - IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
ER -