LighterBody: RNN based Anticipated Virtual Body Makes You Feel Lighter

Abstract

The virtual body representation had shown the potential of intervention into the sense of body. To investigate how the temporal shift of body representation affects the user’s kinetic sensation, we developed a system to anticipate body movement with RNN. We then conducted a user study to assess the effect with the anticipated body movement and the system baseline. Results revealed that the transition from the baseline to the anticipated body induced a lighter bodyweight feeling, and the opposite transition induced a heavier feeling. Our work enlightens the potential of interactive manipulation of the full-body kinetic sensation using virtual body representation.