Disney Research Demonstrates How to Catch a Real Ball While in a Virtual Reality Environment

While attending the 2017 IEEE Virtual Reality conference in Los Angeles, Disney Research senior research scientist Günter Niemeyer and lab associate Matthew Pan demonstrated how their VR system allows people to accurately catch a real ball while in a virtual reality environment.

We examine three visualizations: rendering a matching virtual ball, the predicted trajectory of the ball, and a target catching point lying on the predicted trajectory. In our demonstration system, we track the projectile motion of a ball as it is being tossed between users. Using Unscented Kalman Filtering, we generate predictive estimates of the ball’s motion as it approaches the catcher. The predictive assistance visualizations effectively increases user’s senses but can also alter the user’s strategy in catching.