Details of a Researcher - Sugimoto, Maki

Papers - Sugimoto, Maki

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Virtual Reality Sonification Training System Can Improve a Novice's Forehand Return of Serve in Tennis

Masai K., Kajiyama T., Muramatsu T., Sugimoto M., Kimura T.

Proceedings - 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct, ISMAR-Adjunct 2022 (Proceedings - 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct, ISMAR-Adjunct 2022) 845 - 849 2022

Virtual reality (VR) is gaining interest as a platform for sports skills training. VR allows for information manipulation and feedback that would be difficult in reality. This is particularly useful in open skill sports where players must adjust their behavior in response to environmental factors. Auditory feedback (sonification) is constructive for sports training in VR. However, this has not been well studied in open skill-specific situations due to the difficulty of accounting for environmental factors in reality. This study focuses on a serve return, an important scene in tennis. It investigates the effects of sonification on the forehand return stroke in VR by comparing score displays and trajectory visualizations. We designed the sonification based on the difference between experienced and novice players' movements in VR. We then conducted a between-subjects experiment to investigate the effect of the sonification (N=20). The results showed that the system with sonification effectively improved the timing of hip movement for preparing a slow serve return compared to the system without sonification.

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Techniques for using VRChat to Replace On-site Experiments

Teo T., Sakurada K., Fukuoka M., Sugimoto M.

In this paper, we present a technique to conduct on-site laboratory experiments using VRChat, a social Virtual Reality platform. COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges and restrictions on re-searchers in running experiments for Human-Computer Interaction research. Hence, universities and institutions set guidelines for social distancing and encourage people to work from home. Therefore, participants are harder to recruit for experiments that run in a physical laboratory. Our technique uses VRChat as a substitution for running on-site experiments despite social restrictions. We exploit features in VRChat to enable researchers to run experiments with domestically recruited participants. Furthermore, we propose a hassle-free method to retrieve study data. This paper also discusses and offers design considerations to run an on-site experiment using VRChat over a homemade system.

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Embodiment of an Avatar with Unnatural Arm Movements

Hapuarachchi H., Ishimoto H., Sugimoto M., Inami M., Kitazaki M.

We developed an 'unnatural avatar' of which the lower arms could be bent in reversed/unnatural directions. Participants controlled the avatar in a virtual environment to perform reaching tasks. We measured their senses of body ownership and agency. Compared to a normal avatar, the embodiment towards the unnatural avatar was significantly lower. However, senses of body ownership and agency towards both avatars were higher when the avatar's movements were synchronized with the movements of the participants compared to when there was a delay of one second. These results suggest that visuo-motor synchrony induces embodiment even towards avatars with reversed/unnatural limb movements.

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Consistent Smile Intensity Estimation from Wearable Optical Sensors

Masai K., Perusquia-Hernandez M., Sugimoto M., Kumano S., Kimura T.

2022 10th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, ACII 2022 (2022 10th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, ACII 2022) 2022

Smiling plays a crucial role in human communication. It is the most frequent expression shown in daily life. Smile analysis usually employs computer vision-based methods that use data sets annotated by experts. However, cameras have space constraints in most realistic scenarios due to occlusions. Wearable electromyography is a promising alternative; however, issue of user comfort is a barrier to long-term use. Other wearable-based methods can detect smiles, but they lack consistency because they use subjective criteria without expert annotation. We investigate a wearable-based method that uses optical sensors for consistent smile intensity estimation while reducing manual annotation cost. First, we use a state-of-art computer vision method (OpenFace) to train a regression model to estimate smile intensity from sensor data. Then, we compare the estimation result to that of OpenFace. We also compared their results to human annotation. The results show that the wearable method has a higher matching coefficient (r=0.67) with human annotated smile intensity than OpenFace (r=0.56). Also, when the sensor data and OpenFace output were fused, the multimodal method produced estimates closer to human annotation (r=0.74). Finally, we investigate how the synchrony of smile dynamics among subjects and their average smile intensity are correlated to assess the potential of wearable smile intensity estimation.

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AnkleSens: Foot Posture Prediction Using Photo Reflective Sensors on Ankle

Kikui K., Masai K., Sasaki T., Inami M., Sugimoto M.

IEEE Access (IEEE Access) 10 33111 - 33122 2022

Recognizing foot gestures can be useful for subtle inputs to appliances and machines in everyday life, but for a system to be useful, it must allow users to assume various postures and work in different spaces. Camera-based and pressure-based systems have limitations in these areas. In this paper, we introduce AnkleSens, a novel ankle-worn foot sensing device that estimates a variety of foot postures using photo reflective sensors. Since our device is not placed between the foot and the floor, it can predict foot posture, even if we keep the foot floating in the air. We developed a band prototype with 16 sensors that can be wrapped around the leg above the ankle. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, we used eight foot postures and four foot states as preliminary classes. After assessing a test dataset with the preliminary classes, we integrated the eight foot postures into five. Finally, we classified the dataset with five postures in four foot states. For the resulting 20 classes, the average classification accuracy with our proposed method was 79.57% with user-dependent training. This study showed the potential of foot posture sensing as a new subtle input method in daily life.

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Virtual Whiskers: Cheek Haptic-Based Spatial Directional Guidance in a Virtual Space

Nakamura F., Verhulst A., Sakurada K., Fukuoka M., Sugimoto M.

Proceedings - SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 XR, SA 2021 (Proceedings - SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 XR, SA 2021) 2021.12

In spatial navigation, adding haptic cues to visual information lets users understand the spatial information better. Most haptic devices stimulate various body parts, while few devices target our heads that are sensitive to mechanical stimuli. This paper presents Virtual Whiskers, a spatial directional guidance technique using cheek haptics in a virtual space. We created a cheek haptic stimulation device by attaching two tiny robot arms to a Head-Mounted Display. The robot arms trace the cheek with proximity sensors to estimate the cheek surface. Target azimuthal and elevational directions are translated into a point on the cheek surface. The robot arms touch the point to present target directional cues. We demonstrate our technique in two applications.

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X-Wing: Propeller-Based Force Feedback to Head in a Virtual Environment

Watanabe K., Nakamura F., Sakurada K., Teo T., Sugimoto M.

Proceedings - SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 XR, SA 2021 (Proceedings - SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 XR, SA 2021) 2021.12

In this demonstration, we present X-Wing, a force feedback device using ducted fans attached to a Virtual Reality (VR) Head Mounted Display (HMD). Applying haptic technologies to VR has become a standard solution to enhance the immersive experience. It is also essential for virtual interactions where user experience and performance are crucial. This research focuses on a head-based, wearable device that provides forces to the VR user using exertion force by electric thrusters with controllable strengths and directions. Our system allows the user to experience forces based on their virtual momentum and velocity. It enables a VR user to receive force feedback based on different thrust power converted into translational and rotational force for a unique VR experience such as virtual aerial simulation. We present the prototype to the attendees of SIGGRAPH Asia 2021 through a live demonstration.

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Peripersonal space in the front, rear, left and right directions for audio-tactile multisensory integration

Matsuda Y., Sugimoto M., Inami M., Kitazaki M.

Scientific Reports (Scientific Reports) 11 ( 1 ) 2021.12

Peripersonal space (PPS) is important for humans to perform body–environment interactions. However, many previous studies only focused on the specific direction of the PPS, such as the front space, despite suggesting that there were PPSs in all directions. We aimed to measure and compare the peri-trunk PPS in four directions (front, rear, left, and right). To measure the PPS, we used a tactile and an audio stimulus because auditory information is available at any time in all directions. We used the approaching and receding task-irrelevant sounds in the experiment. Observers were asked to respond as quickly as possible when a tactile stimulus was applied to a vibrator on their chest. We found that peri-trunk PPS representations exist with an approaching sound, irrespective of the direction.

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The effects of body direction and posture on taking the perspective of a humanoid avatar in a virtual environment

Ueda S., Nagamachi K., Nakamura J., Sugimoto M., Inami M., Kitazaki M.

PLoS ONE (PLoS ONE) 16 ( 12 December ) 2021.12

Visual perspective taking is inferring how the world looks to another person. To clarify this process, we investigated whether employing a humanoid avatar as the viewpoint would facilitate an imagined perspective shift in a virtual environment, and which factor of the avatar is effective for the facilitation effect. We used a task that involved reporting how an object looks by a simple direction judgment, either from the avatar's position or from the position of an empty chair. We found that the humanoid avatar's presence improved task performance. Furthermore, the avatar's facilitation effect was observed only when the avatar was facing the visual stimulus to be judged; performance was worse when it faced backwards than when there was only an empty chair facing forwards. This suggests that the avatar does not simply attract spatial attention, but the posture of the avatar is crucial for the facilitation effect. In addition, when the directions of the head and the torso were opposite (i.e., an impossible posture), the avatar's facilitation effect disappeared. Thus, visual perspective taking might not be facilitated by the avatar when its posture is biomechanically impossible because we cannot embody it. Finally, even when the avatar's head of the possible posture was covered with a bucket, the facilitation effect was found with the forward-facing avatar rather than the backward-facing avatar. That is, the head/gaze direction cue, or presumably the belief that the visual stimulus to be judged can be seen by the avatar, was not required. These results suggest that explicit perspective taking is facilitated by embodiment towards humanoid avatars.

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Communications in virtual environment improve interpersonal impression

Kato Y., Sugimoto M., Inami M., Kitazaki M.

Proceedings - 2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops, VRW 2021 (Proceedings - 2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops, VRW 2021) 613 - 614 2021.03

Pseudo physical touch is used for communications in virtual environments such as VRChat. We aimed to test if the pseudo-touch communication affects social impression in a virtual environment. Nineteen participants performed the controlled experiment with a partner who was an experimenter with three types of communications: no touch, pseudo touch, and actual touch. Subjective ratings of attractiveness and the communication easiness with the partner increased in all conditions, suggesting that the communication in virtual environments improves interpersonal attraction and communicability either with or without physical or pseudo touch.

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Dynamic Shared Limbs: An Adaptive Shared Body Control Method Using EMG Sensors

Takizawa R., Hagiwara T., Verhulst A., Fukuoka M., Kitazaki M., Sugimoto M.

ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series) 10 - 18 2021.02

An inter-personal shared body is an extended body that allows an avatar or robot to be controlled by multiple people. It is possible for operators to share control over the actions of the shared body. A shared body can be operated well when the same actions are performed by its operators. However, when their actions are not the same, we need to have an adaptive control method for the operators to maintain a sense of agency and ownership. In this study, we propose dynamic adjustment methods to control a shared body using EMG sensors and movements of the operators.

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Virtual Whiskers: Spatial Directional Guidance using Cheek Haptic Stimulation in a Virtual Environment

Nakamura F., Verhulst A., Sakurada K., Sugimoto M.

ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series) 141 - 151 2021.02

Spatial cues are an important element of navigating people in physical/virtual spaces. In terms of spatial navigation, integrating vision with other modalities, such as haptics, can guide users more effectively. Haptic cues are presented on the body parts that are sensitive to stimuli such as hands and a head. The head is reported to be superior to the body for spatial directional perception. In this paper, we propose Virtual Whiskers, a spatial directional guidance technique by haptic stimulation of the cheeks using tiny robot arms attached to a Head-Mounted Display (HMD). We deploy photo reflective sensors attached to the tip of 2 robotic arms to detect the distance between the tip and the cheek surface. Using the robot arms, we stimulate a point on the cheek obtained by calculating an intersection between the cheek surface and the target direction. We experimentally investigated how accurately participants identify the target direction provided by our guidance method. We evaluated an error between the actual target direction and the participant's pointed direction. The experimental result shows that our method achieves the average absolute directional error of 2.76 degrees in the azimuthal plane and 7.32 degrees in the elevation plane. We also conducted a spatial guidance experiment to evaluate task performance in a target search task. We compared the condition of only vision and vision with haptics for task completion time. The average of task completion time in visual-only condition was M=12.45 s, SD=14.51 s, and visual with haptic condition resulted in M=6.91 s, SD=5.48 s. Statistical test revealed a significant difference in task completion time between the visual condition and the visual+haptic condition.

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MultiSoma: Distributed Embodiment with Synchronized Behavior and Perception

Miura R., Kasahara S., Kitazaki M., Verhulst A., Inami M., Sugimoto M.

ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series) 1 - 9 2021.02

Human behavior and perception are optimized for a single body. Yet, the human brain has plasticity, which allows us to extend our body schema. By utilizing technology like robotics or virtual reality (VR), we can modify our body parts or even add a new body to our own while retaining control over these parts. However, the update of body cognition when controlling multiple bodies has not been well examined. In this study, we explore the task performance and body cognition of humans when they have multiple full bodies as an extended embodiment. Our experimental system allows a participant to control up to four bodies at the same time and perceive sensory information from them. The participant experiences synchronizing behavior and vision perception in a virtual environment. We set up two tasks for multiple bodies and evaluated the cognition of these bodies by their task performances and subjective ratings. We found that humans can have the sense of body ownership and agency for each body when controlling multiple bodies simultaneously. Distributed embodiment has the potential to extend human behavior in cooperative work, parallel work, group behavior, and so on.

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Exploring a Dynamic Change of Muscle Perception in VR, Based on Muscle Electrical Activity and/or Joint Angle

Ferrand E., Verhulst A., Inami M., Sugimoto M.

ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series) 298 - 300 2021.02

We display a virtual avatar changing its biceps appearance to fit the user's biceps contraction. The avatar's biceps changes its size and color based on either: (EMG) the biceps activity (recorded with a electromyography [EMG] sensor); or (ANG) the elbow angle; or (EMG + ANG) the biceps activity and elbow angle. The users also wear an ad hoc haptic device around their biceps to give the illusion of stronger biceps contractions. In the Virtual Environment, the participants (N=10) look at their right biceps and do elbow flexion. They rate EMG, ANG and EMG + ANG (with and without the haptic device) along Body Ownership and Agency. We found that ANG (without the haptic device) was rated noticeably lower on the Agency than EMG and EMG + ANG (both without the haptic device). It is likely better to change the appearance of a muscle using the user's muscle contraction rather than the user's movement when considering the user's muscle ownership and agency. The addition of the ad hoc haptic device appeared to not affect the Sense of Embodiment.

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Investigating Textual Visual Sound Effects in a Virtual Environment and their impacts on Object Perception and Sound Perception

Fabre T., Verhulst A., Balandra A., Sugimoto M., Inami M.

Proceedings - 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, ISMAR 2021 (Proceedings - 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, ISMAR 2021) 320 - 328 2021

In comics, Textual Sound Effects (TE) can describe sounds, but also actions, events, etc. TE could be used in Virtual Environment to efficiently create an easily recognizable scene and add more information to objects at a relatively low design cost. We investigate the impact of TE in a Virtual Environment on objects’ material perception (on category and properties) and on sound perception (on volume [dB] and spatial position). Participants (N=13, repeated measures) categorized metallic and wooden spheres and significantly changed their reaction time depending on the TE congruence with the spheres’ material/sound. They then rated a sphere’s properties (i.e., wetness, warmness, softness, smoothness, and dullness) and significantly changed their rating depending on the TE. When comparing 2 sound volumes, they perceived a sound associated with a shrinking TE as less loud and a sound associated with a growing TE as louder. When locating an audio source location, they located it significantly closer to a TE.

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Facial Expression Recognition in Daily Life by Embedded Photo Reflective Sensors on Smart Eyewear

SUGIMOTO Maki

Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI2016) 317 - 326 2016

FuwaFuwa: 複数のフォトリフレクタモジュールを用いた柔軟物への接触検知手法

SUGIMOTO Maki

日本バーチャルリアリティ学会論文誌 20 ( 3 ) 209 - 217 2015.09

Joint Work

環境3Dモデルによるカメラトラッキングを用いた温度分布のAR表示システム

中川　航，松本一紀，フランソワドゥソルビエ，杉本麻樹，斎藤英雄，仙田修司，柴田剛志，池谷彰彦

映像情報メディア学会誌 69 ( 4 ) J160 - J168 2015.04

Research paper (scientific journal), Joint Work, Accepted

Virtual Slicer: Visualizer for Tomographic Medical Images Corresponding Handheld Device to Patient

SUGIMOTO Maki

The International Journal of Virtual Reality 15 ( 1 ) 10 - 17 2015

Joint Work

Move-it: a paperclip-shaped sensing and actuating system for sticky notes

Kentaro Yasu, Kathrin Probst, Maki Sugimoto, Michael Haller and Masahiko Inami

ROBOMECH Journal 2014 Vol. 1:12 2014.09

Research paper (scientific journal), Joint Work, Accepted

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