Steven M. LaValle

Toward the Foundations of Perception Engineering

Steven M. LaValle, University of Oulu & University of Illinois

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) and related immersive technologies have enormous potential to transform society by creating perceptual illusions that can uniquely enhance education, collaborative design, health care, and social interaction, all from a distance. Further benefits include highly immersive computer interfaces, data visualization, and storytelling. We propose in our research that VR and related fields can be reframed as perception engineering, in which the object being engineered is the perceptual illusion itself, and the physical devices that achieve it are auxiliary. The talk will report on our progress toward developing mathematical foundations that attempt to bring the biologically oriented sciences of perceptual psychology, neuroscience, and physiology closer to core engineering principles by viewing the design and delivery of illusory experiences as a dynamical system. The system is composed of two kinds of interacting entities: 1) Producers, who intentionally modify the environment to create illusions, and 2) Receivers, who experience targeted illusions. Either entity may be biological, engineered, or a combination. Our vision is that the research community will one day have principled engineering approaches to design, simulation, prediction, and analysis of sustained, targeted, illusory perceptual experiences. It is hoped that this direction of research will offer valuable guidance and deeper insights into VR, robotics, computer science, engineering, and possibly biological and social sciences that study perception.