The concept of the Metaverse has sparked great interest as a futuristic virtual space that provides immersive experiences and social interactions through digital avatars. However, using avatars in the Metaverse raises privacy concerns that require innovative solutions to ensure the safety of users. In this article, we conducted a systematic review using the PRISMA method to identify work discussing privacy issues related to avatars in the Metaverse and efforts to provide safer virtual environments for users. Our review revealed two main avatar-related privacy issues: threats related to the user’s identity, such as the disclosure of personal details, and social threats, such as harassment. We also reviewed different proposed solutions to these problems, categorized into three main groups: altering user representation, providing safety options to users, and leveraging AI techniques to detect and mitigate issues. While these solutions promise a safer Metaverse for users, there are inherent limitations that require further advancements. To fill the existing research gap and create a safer Metaverse, we suggest improving safety features for users, finding a balance between user experience and privacy, increasing the use of AI to create safer environments while considering user concerns, and enhancing reporting methods available in the Metaverse. Our review emphasizes the need for more advanced research and development to tackle avatar privacy challenges in the Metaverse.

Wearable telexistence robotic systems have risen in prominence after the COVID-19 pandemic, being vital for various applications. However, their design, fabrication, and evaluation require substantial resources and are unsupported by robot simulation systems. Therefore, we present V-TX, which is a VR-based system for deploying and evaluating wearable telexistence systems. V-TX extends key telexistence systems’ components with versatility for customizing different attributes based on the intended application. To demonstrate the potential of V-TX, we replicated a real telexistence robot in V-TX, called Piton, and showed a novel potential use for exploring and evaluating different robot designs, interaction methods, and deployments. We conducted a comparative evaluation between the real Piton robot and its V-TX implementation. The results show that V-TX gave results that match those of the real counterpart across the main factors of telexistence, indicating its viability as an alternative to traditional evaluation approaches using real robots. Lastly, we discuss the limitations and present future research directions.

Telexistence refers to various technologies that enable a high sense of embodiment and interaction capabilities with remote environments. Although numerous telexistence systems have been explored in previous works of literature, no prior studies have investigated the usability of telexistence systems for daily use. Therefore, this study focuses on Piton, which is a novel wearable telexistence robot which has a high degree of freedom in a snake-shaped design. Piton offers a unique opportunity for remote interaction and manipulation in diverse environments, owing to its flexible movement, which enables users to adapt to various scenarios with ease. The robot's wearability is also an essential feature that allows the user to wear it as a backpack. However, despite its promising features, deeper investigation is necessary to explore potential use cases for Piton in users' daily lives and the challenge of Piton.

Robotic avatar and telexistence systems have risen in prominence after the covid-19 pandemic, where current telecommunication methods are limited in terms of physical interaction abilities. Most existing systems focus on manual control of the remote robot, where the robot’s arms and head movements follow the user’s movements. Despite the effectiveness of such controls in conveying high levels of embodiment, such control methods jeopardize the efficiency of controls, especially for complex physical manipulation tasks, unclear environments, or unstable communication. Therefore, we propose an assistive-manipulation method to augment users’ control of a telexistence robot during physical manipulation tasks. Machine Learning (ML) was used in the remote environment to localize target objects. This information is sent to the local environment where an inverse kinematic (IK) solution to hold the intended object is generated. The generated IK solution is fused with the one generated by the user’s arm movements. The system enables generating various levels of IK fusion. However, an essential aspect of telexistence is to maintain high levels of embodiment and body ownership over the remote robot. Therefore, the evaluation in this paper focuses on investigating the effect of haptic feedback and the level of IK fusion on body ownership. The results indicate that haptic feedback induced a sense of assurance of task completion and enabling assistance from the system improved the user’s sense of control over the robotic arm.

This paper proposes a multidisciplinary framework that applies psychological treatment. The framework uses virtual reality to apply guided imagery scenarios, where a person imagines a certain situation positively, to better deal with similar ones in reality. The idea is to use virtual reality to achieve self-efficacy; a self-belief that empowers success. The proposed concept of "Virtual Interactive Imagery" represents immersing users in virtual images to live and interact in a predeveloped scenario positively, instead of having people depend on a facilitator to guide them through imagination. The paper focuses on obesity treatment and the role of imagination in human weight loss. The methodology of creating a virtual system is presented, and a proof of concept for the system is developed and tested through a usability test.

Abstract Simulations are beneficial in evaluating clinicians’ empirical competencies through practical skills, prioritizing, and decision-making as part of patient care scenarios generally run in a full-scale physical context. However, such simulations require physical space, manufacturing, and replacement of damaged or used equipment. On the other hand, virtual reality (VR) computerized simulators are comparatively modern instruments for use in practical training. VR can be employed to simulate real-world situations without the actual need for physical devices. This work presents an ambulance patient compartment VR simulation that can be used by emergency medical services (EMS) staff to customize the configuration of the ambulance patient compartment according to their preference as well as for vehicle orientation or training purposes. The proposed simulation can be used repeatedly enabling the paramedics to access equipment in a fully immersive and safe environment. The user studies have demonstrated the usability and perceived effectiveness of the proposed simulation.

Gustatory display research is still in its infancy despite being one of the essential everyday senses that human practice while eating and drinking. Indeed, the most important and frequent tasks that our brain deals with every day are foraging and feeding. The recent studies by psychologists and cognitive neuroscientist revealed how complex multisensory rely on the integration of cues from all the human senses in any flavor experiences. The perception of flavor is multisensory and involves combinations of gustatory and olfactory stimuli. The cross-modal mapping between these modalities needs to be more explored in the virtual environment and simulation, especially in liquid food. In this paper, we present a customized wearable Augmented Reality (AR) system and olfaction display to study the effect of vision and olfaction on the gustatory sense. A user experiment and extensive analysis conducted to study the influence of each stimulus on the overall flavor, including other factors like age, previous experience in Virtual Reality (VR)/AR, and beverage consumption. The result showed that smell contributes strongly to the flavor with less contribution to the vision. However, the combination of these stimuli can deliver richer experience and a higher belief rate. Beverage consumption had a significant effect on the flavor belief rate. Experience is correlated with stimulus and age is correlated with belief rate, and both indirectly affected the belief rate.

Abstract Prior studies on the use of digital prototyping and virtual reality (VR) in designing as well as evaluating new products have shown that VR reduces both development time and costs whilst augmenting student motivation and creativity. The current study demonstrates that VR and 3D prototyping in the context of project-based learning (PBL) promote effective communication, increase problem solving skills, and enhance learning outcomes. VR and digital prototyping have been extensively used in industries for the purpose of product design and usability evaluation. In the context of engineering education, many research studies have attempted to explore the effect of VR on teamwork, engagement, retention, and motivation. In this paper, VR is used in conjunction with PBL in self-directed approach to design and implement a product using 3D software whilst also using virtual reality immersive CAVE display to evaluate their design. The hypothesis is that the use of VR with a project-based-learning approach to facilitate the attainment of desirable goals in the engineering design project, improved achievement of course learning outcomes and promoted effective communication. According to the research findings, VR approach significantly affected the distribution of cumulative project grades. Students’ project grades improved, particularly the implementation component. In addition, the course outcomes related to project design were better achieved in VR approach. The communication and problem-solving skills were improved in the VR approach as compared to traditional approach.

Using multisensory signals in advanced driver assistance is continuously increasing as a way to increase the attention and reduce the reaction time. It is essential that driver assistance system is capable of providing directional cues to the driver to direct his attention to the sides of the car as usually the focus is in front of the car. These signals could be for blind spot information, navigation, lane departure warning, collision warning, etc. This study investigated the effect of auditory and vibrotactile on directional attention in driver assistance systems. Moreover, two types of immersive displays were used in the driving simulation, namely the Head Mounted Display (HMD) and CAVE display, to study the effect of the type of display on the human performance. Lane Chang Task was used to assess the attention by measuring the response time to directional information. Vibrotactile and Auditory cues induced equal response times, meanwhile, vibrotactile signal was significantly gained higher satisfaction than auditory.

Driving simulations are widely used to send navigational and warning information to help drivers navigate safely. The traditional approaches are to use visual and auditory channels which can cause sensory overloading. Haptic has major safety implication on reducing visual and auditory overloading in driving, and since seats are the largest area in touch with the driver's body, it is a sensible choice to consider for delivering the haptic information. This paper presents the design and development of an optimal vibrotactile seat to provide a high level of satisfaction to the driver. The seat was designed by experimenting with different design parameters such as the intensity, position, and the rhythm of vibrations. Experiments were conducted to investigate the proper values of voltage, frequency, and amplitude that are specifically related to the developed haptic seat. A driving simulation was developed to evaluate the haptic seat for vehicle navigation in an immersive virtual driving simulator. Results showed that users preferred the vibrations to the audio feedback.

This work aims to design and develop an optimal vibrotactile seat to provide a high level of satisfaction to the driver. The main critical design parameters were considered and experiments were conducted to investigate the proper values of voltage, frequency, and amplitude that are specifically related to the developed haptic seat.

Recently, surgical simulation is a widely used method to train surgeons on specific surgeries due to the fact that it helps reducing surgical errors. Available surgical simulations lack realism since they only incorporate one or two senses which are vision and hap tic. This paper proposes a novel multimode interactive surgical simulator that incorporates hap tic, olfactory, as well as traditional vision feedback. A scent diffuser was created and developed to interact with the simulation, in order to produce odors when errors took place. Phantom hap tic device was used to provide the sense of touch to the user. Our system has been tested and evaluated and the results show that incorporating more senses to the simulation enhances the performance of the user. This is due to the fact that using olfaction sensation increases the remembrance of the trainee.

Medical education has a strong need for palpation training. Haptic sense is indispensable for the detection of subsurface tumor. A virtual reality (VR) training for breast palpation simulation was created utilizing the newly designed multi-fingered haptic interface robot (HIRO). The simulation allows the user to perform breast palpation. A realistic model of the breast was developed and a physically based modeling is achieved by using a finite element method (FEM) that provides correct reaction forces and deformations of a virtual deformable object. A VR medical application system for breast palpation using HIRO was developed and examined in a real-time experiment.