Skill Training in Multimodal Virtual Environments

The advent of augmented reality technologies used to assist human operators in complex manipulative operations—has brought an urgency to research into the modeling and training of human skills in Virtual Environments. However, modeling a specific act still represents a challenge in cognitive science. The same applies for the control of humanoid robots and the replication of skilled behavior of avatars in Virtual Environments. Skill Training in Multimodal Virtual Environments presents the scientific background, research outcomes, engineering developments, and evaluation studies conducted during the five years (2006-2011) of the project SKILLS–Multimodal Interfaces for Capturing and Transfer of Skill, funded by the European Commission under its 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The SKILLS project evaluated how to exploit robotics and virtual environment technologies for the training of specific skills. This book details the novel approach used in the study to cope with skill acquisition, setting aside the mainstream assumptions of common computer-assisted training simulators. It explores how the SKILLS approach generated new training scenarios that allow users to practice new experiences in the performance of the devised task. Using a carefully designed approach that balances science with practicality, the book explores how virtual and augmented reality systems can be designed to address the skill transfer and training in different application contexts. The application of the same roadmap to skills originating from domains such as sports, rehabilitation, industrial environment, and surgery sets this book apart. It demonstrates how technology-oriented training conditions can yield better results than more traditional training conditions.

Scientific FoundationsVirtual Environments and Augmented Reality for Skill Training, Massimo BergamascoDevelopment of Training Platforms in Multimodal Virtual Reality Environments, Daniel GopherDynamics of Skill Acquisition in Multimodal Technological Environments, Benoit G. Bardy, Julien Lagarde, and Denis MottetEngineering and Technology of Virtual Reality TrainingPerspectives of Multimodal Virtual Reality (VR) Training Platforms, Emilio Sanchez, Jorge Rodriguez, Teresa Gutierrez, Carsten Preusche, and Sara CasadoMotion Capture Technologies for Pose Estimation, Paul Smyth and Cristian Canton-FerrerSkill Capturing and Augmented Reality for Training, Uli Bockholt, Sabine Webel, Timo Engelke, Manuel Olbrich, and Harald WustHaptic Interfaces for Skills Training, Carlo Alberto Avizzano, Florian Gosselin, Teresa Gutierrez, Carsten Preusche, Emanuele Ruffaldi, Emilio Sanchez, and Massimo BergamascoAuditory Interfaces in Virtual Environment Training, Pablo F. Hoffmann and Dorte HammershoiDigital Representation and Modeling of SkillDigital Representation and Modeling of Human Skill, Carlo Alberto AvizzanoData Management for Evaluation and Training in Virtual Environments, Emanuele RuffaldiSKILLS Demonstration PlatformsDesign and Evaluation of a Multimodal Virtual Reality Platform for Rowing Training, Emanuele Ruffaldi, Alessandro Filippeschi, Manuel Varlet, Charles Hoffmann, and Benoit G. BardyTraining to Juggle with a Light Weight Juggler (LWJ), Julien Lagarde, Daniel Gopher, Carlo Alberto Avizzano, Vered Erev, Vittorio Lippi, and Gregory ZelicDesigning a Virtual Reality Training Platform for Surgeons: Theoretical Framework, Technological Solutions, and Results, Sylvain Bouchigny, Christine Megard, Florian Gosselin, Pablo F. Hoffmann, and Maria KormanTraining Platforms for Upper Limb Rehabilitation, Antonio Frisoli, Denis Mottet, Isabelle Laffont, and Massimo BergamascoTraining Platforms for Industrial Maintenance and Assembly, Teresa Gutierrez, Nirit Gavish, Sabine Webel, Jorge Rodriguez, and Franco TecchiaTraining Approaches for Improving Robot Programming-by-Demonstration Skills, Volker Schmirgel, Uwe Zimmermann, Eldad Yechiam, Ariel Telpaz, Thomas Hulin, and Carsten PreuschePropects of Multimodal Virtual Stimulators in the Training and Transfer of SkillsSkill Training in Virtual Reality Environments: Its Requirements and Challenges, Daniel GopherFuture Perspectives and Technological Challenges in Multimodal Human-Machine Interaction, Massimo BergamascoIndex