Take a seat - the influence of sitting down in a virtual environment on workload, user experience and presence

Abstract

The integration of real, physical objects into virtual scenarios enables direct haptic feedback for the user. In addition to the interaction with small, hand-held, hybrid objects, i.e., objects that exist both in the virtual and real environments, it is also possible to interact with more massive objects, such as tables and chairs. A virtual assembly scenario for both a seated and a standing assembly workstation to be used in conjunction with a standing-height drill station was developed and matching physical and virtual representations of the furniture, a movable work chair, was added. The virtual world was dynamically aligned to the real object by means of tracking hardware, so that virtuality and reality shared the same spatial position in relation to the user. Within a study, the participants had to carry out a manual assembly task on both workstations, thus physically and dynamically interacting with and using (sitting down on, getting up from) the real chair integrated in the virtual scenario of the seated workbench. The chair was absent in the scenario of the standing assembly workbench. The collected data on subjective cognitive workload, user experience and presence are supposed to provide an initial indication of the influence of such physical objects in the virtual world. Furthermore, the question of how trust in physical objects can be increased in the virtual world is investigated.