BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to a scheme for delivering a more realistic haptic stimulus to a haptic interaction glove worn by a tactical trainee on the basis of the position, direction, and shape of a virtual hand displayed ile being synchronized with the haptic interaction glove inside a virtual tactical training environment implemented through a virtual display device (for example, HMD).

2. Description of the Prior Art

In line with the recent rapid development of computer-related technologies, research on three-dimensional visualization of a tactical situation recognition, which delivers a battlefield situation quickly and accurately so as to support operation execution and command/control, has become a major research subject. This also has made it possible to three-dimensionally display all wartime objects, such as geographic information and tactical information, inside a tactical situation map.

Such a trend has recently been followed by development of tactical training platforms including tactical training simulator equipment. Such platform have been utilized for the purpose of familiarizing tactical trainees with equipment, before handling actual equipment, and improving ability thereof to handle respective situations through a simulated environment in which tactical situations are displayed three-dimensionally, and actual equipment used in tactical situations are simulated.

However, in the case of existing tactical training platforms, which attempt to implement simulated environments that simulate actual equipment through simulator equipment, discrepancies normally exist between the same and actual tactical equipment. In addition, during the training processes, the tactical trainees are provided with visual and sensory user interfaces (UIs) that provide insufficient realistic experiences. As such, there is a doubt about the effect of tactical trainings that could be accomplished through existing tactical training platforms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and an aspect of the present disclosure is to implement a virtual tactical training environment through a virtual display device (for example, HMD) and to deliver a more realistic haptic stimulus to a haptic interaction glove worn by a tactical trainee on the basis of the position, direction, and shape of a virtual hand displayed while being synchronized with the haptic interaction glove inside the virtual tactical training environment, thereby improving the effect of the tactical training.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a virtual reality simulator includes: a determination unit configured to determine the position, direction, and shape of a virtual hand displayed wile being synchronized with a haptic interaction glove worn by a tactical trainee inside a virtual tactical training environment implemented through a virtual display device on the basis of sensing information received from the haptic interaction glove; a confirmation unit configured to confirm whether or not contact occurs between the virtual hand and a virtual object positioned inside the virtual tactical training environment on the basis of the position, direction, and shape of the virtual hand inside the virtual tactical training environment; and a designation unit configured to designate a haptic stimulus application region, to which a haptic stimulus is to be applied on the haptic interaction glove, on the basis of a state of contact between the virtual hand and the virtual object when it is confirmed that contact occurs between the virtual hand and the virtual object.

More specifically, the sensing information includes at least one selected from an acceleration sensing value sensed from a reference sensor positioned in a palm center region of the haptic interaction glove, a gyroscope sensing value, and distance sensing values from the reference sensor to respective finger end regions of the haptic interaction glove.

More specifically, the determination unit is configured to determine the position and the direction of the virtual hand n the basis of at least one selected from movement values in three axes in forward/backward, upward/downward, and leftward/rightward directions in a three-dimensional space, which are confirmed from the acceleration sensing value, and three-axes rotation values of pitch, roll, and yaw confirmed from the gyroscope sensing value.

More specifically, the determine unit is configured to determine the shape of the virtual hand on the basis of distances from the reference sensor to respective finger end regions of the haptic interaction glove, which are confirmed from the distance sensing values.

More specifically, the determination unit is configured to determine the shape of the virtual hand with reference to a mapping table enumerating mapping relations between combinations of distances from the reference sensor to respective finger end regions of the haptic interaction glove and multiple hand shape images that the tactical trainee can form by moving finger parts.

More specifically, the haptic stimulus application region is designated such that at least one of a center point, to which a haptic stimulus is applied in the haptic stimulus application region, and the area of the haptic stimulus application region, which is calculated with reference to the center point, is different according to the state of contact determined according to the position, direction, and shape of the virtual hand.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method for operating a virtual reality simulator includes the steps of determining the position, the direction, and the shape of a virtual hand displayed while being synchronized with a haptic interaction glove worn by a tactical trainee inside a virtual tactical training environment implemented through a virtual display device on the basis of sensing information received from the haptic interaction glove; confirming whether or not contact occurs between the virtual hand and a virtual object positioned inside the virtual tactical training environment on the basis of the position, direction, and shape of the virtual hand inside the virtual tactical training environment; and designating a haptic stimulus application region, to which a haptic stimulus is to be applied on the haptic interaction glove, on the basis of a state of contact between the virtual hand and the virtual object when it is confirmed that contact occurs between the virtual hand and the virtual object.

More specifically, the sensing information includes at least one selected from an acceleration sensing value sensed from a reference sensor positioned in a palm center region of the haptic interaction glove, a gyroscope sensing value, and distance sensing values from the reference sensor to respective finger end regions of the haptic interaction glove.

More specifically, in the determining step, the position and the direction of the virtual hand are determined on the basis of at least one selected from movement values in three axes in forward/backward, upward/downward, and leftward/rightward directions in a three-dimensional space, which are confirmed from the acceleration sensing value, and three-axes rotation values of pitch, roll, and yaw confirmed from the gyroscope sensing value.

More specifically, in the determining step, the shape of the virtual hand is determined on the basis of distances from the reference sensor to respective finger end regions of the haptic interaction glove, which are confirmed from the distance sensing values.

More specifically, in the determining step, the shape of the virtual hand is determined with reference to a mapping table enumerating mapping relations between combinations of distances from the reference sensor to respective finger end regions of the haptic interaction glove and multiple hand shape images that the tactical trainee can form by1omoving finger parts.

More specifically, the haptic stimulus application region is designated such that at least one of a center point, to which a haptic stimulus is applied in the haptic stimulus application region, and the area of the haptic stimulus application region, which is calculated with reference to the center point, is different according to the state of contact determined according to the position, direction, and shape of the virtual hand.

The haptic interaction-based virtual reality simulator and the method for operating the same, according to the present disclosure, implement a virtual tactical training environment through a virtual display device (for example, HMD), and deliver a more realistic haptic stimulus in view of the position, direction, and shape of a virtual hand displayed while being synchronized with a haptic interaction glove worn by a tactical trainee inside the virtual tactical training environment, thereby improving the effect of the tactical training.

