Lab
Rob Gray is director of the Perception & Action Lab (PAL). PAL is devoted to the investigation of human perceptual-motor control, with a particular emphasis on the demanding actions involved in driving, aviation, and sports. The primary mission of this laboratory is to conduct basic research that can be applied towards the improvement of training, simulation and human-machine interface development within these contexts.
ISTBIII
Driving Simulator
Baseball Batting Simulator
Flight Simulator
Tactile & Haptic Interfaces
Directions
ISTB III
PAL is located in the state-of-the-art, research-dedicated Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building III (ISTB III) at the Polytechnic Campus of Arizona State University. The PAL is comprised of two separate lab spaces: the virtual action lab and the driving/flight simulator lab. The driving/flight simulator lab has a 21’(l) x 21’(w) x 9.5(h)’experimentation room and a separate 11’ x 21’ control room (which will house the computers used for the simulation). The experimentation and control rooms are connected by a cabling channel. Experimenters can view the experimentation room either directly through a small window or, when collecting data, via webcams. Microphones and speakers are used for communication between the experimenter and participant.
Driving Simulator
In the Perception & Action Lab, we use the DS-600c Advanced Research Simulator made by Drive Safety. This is a high fidelity, high performance driving simulation that consists of multi channel audio and video, a 300 deg wraparound display, a full-width automobile cab with windshield, driver and passenger seats and a fully instrumented dashboard, and motion platform.
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Images from five channels representing the front and side views of the road scene (totaling 300 deg of visual angle) are displayed using LCD projectors mounted above the cab ( while images from the channel corresponding to view behind the vehicle (i.e., rear-view and two side mirrors) are displayed via small mounted LCD panel displays integrated with the cab. These channels are controlled by a separate host PC. Tactile and proprioceptive feedback cues are provided via dynamic torque feedback from the steering wheel and vibration transducers mounted under the driver’s seat. The motion platform provides coordinated inertial cues for the onset of longitudinal acceleration and deceleration. The simulation and data collection are controlled by DriveSafety’s Vection Real-Time software that is comprised of vehicle dynamics, scenario control, visual and audio subsystems. Driving scenarios are created and tested using the HyperDrive Authoring Suite software. Driver behavior in this model of simulator has been shown to correlate highly with behavior during real-world driving (Slick & Evans, 2006).
Baseball Batting Simulator
In the one-of-a-kind baseball batting simulator used at the Perception & Action Lab batters swing a real baseball bat (equipped with a motion tracker) at a simulated approaching baseball. The image of the ball, a pitcher and the playing field are projected on a 2.11m (h) x 1.47m (v) screen. The position of the ball in the simulation is compared with the recording of bat position in real-time in order to detect collisions between the bat and ball. Batters receive visual (the ball flying off the bat into the field), auditory (the “crack of the bat”, umpire calls, and crowd noise), and tactile (bat vibration) feedback when they “hit” the simulated ball. At PAL we regularly use college baseball players are participants.
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Flight Simulators
Researchers in the Perception & Action Lab have access to two different flight simulators: one in PAL itself and one at the nearby Mesa Air Force Research Laboratory.
PAL Flight Simulator
In PAL we use Microsoft Flight Simulator (MFS) for experiments. MFS is being used more often as a research tool (Richards, 2004) as well operationally by the US Navy and their future aviators (Brewin, 2000). The MFS visual environment is controlled by a standard aviation computer game joystick and is projected on a large screen using a LCD projector with an update rate of 60 Hz.
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AFRL Flight Simulator
The simulated image is displayed over three simulator-display channels [each 133 cm (H) x 111 cm (V)], and subtended a visual angle of 180° (H) Í 63° (V). Each channel consists of 1600 x 1200 pixels and was displayed using a rear-projection CRT (Barco Inc., Model 808).
Tactile & Haptic Interfaces
Tactile display equipment includes a haptic directional display system developed by the Haptic Interface Research Laboratory at Purdue University and several stand-alone vibrators driven by a PCI card. The directional display system can deliver both single pulses and sequences of vibrations simulating movement across the body.
Directions
PAL is located on the Polytechnic Campus of Arizona State University in southeast Mesa. The closest major intersection is Power Rd and Williams Field Rd.
References:
Brewin, R. (2000). Navy taps into Microsoft’s popular flight simulator product. Retrieved May 15, 2006 from http://archives.cnn.com/2000/tech/computing /01/26/missile.idg
Richards, R. A. (2004). Vertical landing aids design and test tool for utilizing Microsoft flight simulator visualization and virtual reality. Retrieved May 15, 2006 from www.stottlerhenke.com/papers/vertical_mso_2004.pdf.
Slick R.F. and Evans D.F. (2006) Using simulators to train novice teen drivers: Assessing psychological fidelity as a precursor to transfer of training. Proceedings of the Driving Simulator Conference-Asia/Pacific, in press.
