A Beijing Taxi-Trike Simulation

Transcription

1 COSC6335 Topics in Virtual Reality Project Proposal A Beijing Taxi-Trike Simulation Olena Borzenko, Sunbir Gill, Xuan Zhang {olena, sunbir, xuan}@cs.yorku.ca Supervisor: Michael Jenkin

2 Vision I shall not bring an automobile with me... Nothing more abominable has ever been invented. Perhaps the automobile tricycles may succeed better, but I abjure all these works of the devil. Henry Brooks Adams It is the business of the future to be dangerous; and it is among the merits of science that it equips the future for its duties. Alfred North Whitehead Standing amidst bustling city streets of an evening in Shanghai you ready in anticipation of your first evening of work. The lights of buildings and vehicles, the sound of horns and traffic assault your senses. A person you ve never seen before, and several minutes henceforth may never see again, briskly taps you on your shoulder. You are asked to take them to questionable locale of which you are unfamiliar. You begin pedaling the wheels of your new taxi-trike. Your trek will require you to navigate the myriad of streets that comprise the heart of the city are you prepared? Main Features A two-user (VR Trike, PC) simulation of a traditional Chinese taxicab service. Taxi drivers pick up clients scattered around a 5 by 5 block city, taking them to specified destinations (e.g. the Golden Restaurant or the intersection of 3 rd Street and 5 th Avenue ). The drivers need to face obstructions such as local traffic or temporary blockage of streets. Introduction of audio and physics enhances the VR experience. Figure 1. A mock-up scene of the simulation 1

3 Subtasks Hardware setup Figure 2. Project s Gantt chart Implement device drivers for VR Trike, Gamepad, and PC keyboard. Test HMD and Tracker operation. CVS Setup Create a repository for the project codebase. Application Framework Establish a framework in code for modeling entities and adding features. Modeling Determine polygonal and texture scene and entity budget. Create initial rectangular models for all entities. Find freeware models and textures. Use real photos as textures for buildings. Possibly develop finer models and introduce animations for vehicle wheels and avatar arms and legs. Communication between VEs Design an interaction protocol for two instances of the same application communicating peer-to-peer. Send messages of two types: Position and state update for driver avatars (frequent). Synchronization messages for physics simulation (less frequent). 2

4 Physics simulation Use Open Dynamics Environment (ODE) for entity interaction to produce physically accurate collisions and life-like world dynamics. Simulation Development Develop scenarios for user interaction with the world. Design and implement behavior of entities such as clients, vehicles, and traffic lights. Graphic Programming Address performance issues such as efficient transfer of models and textures. Develop a heads-up-display for money earned, time remaining etc. AI agent development Allow an intelligent avatar to replace a human driver on one of the machines. Develop simple client pick-up strategies and path-finding algorithms. Audio Dialogues between driver and client. Simple directional noise (e.g. for cars passing by). Testing and Tuning Conduct system tests among other students. Improve software based on test results. Facing contingencies Trike Hardware ODE Physics Package VE-to-VE Communication If anything malfunctions on the Trike, we may use a gamepad to control the taxicab and a regular monitor to display the world. If there are problems with using ODE engine in our simulation, we will implement collision detection and physics model ourselves. If peer-to-peer interaction scheme is difficult to implement, we will adopt a centralized broadcasting approach. 3

5 Gantt Chart Project s Gantt chart 4