Good-bye feet!
2008
Introduction
A Good-bye feet! is a machine that transforms person's body image. The body image is the mental representation how we perceive our own body, including height, shape, weight, etc. In this artwork, the machine cheats our brain by replacing subject's eyes by using two cameras and a 3D head-mounted display (HMD). It is a brand-new experience that the body suddenly reaches 5 meters tall. Although, you can see your feet and move them, they would be so far off. “Good-bye feet!”
Fig.1 A bycycle driven by the Bionic Engine
The Good-bye feet! is inspired by literatures "Alice's Adventure in Wonderland" written by Lewis Carroll and "Guliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. In the story, Alice ate a cake, and then she grew taller and taller drastically like a telescope. What does a rapid extension of the body bring to us?
'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English); 'now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Good-bye, feet!' (for when she looked down at her feet, they seemed to be almost out of sight, they were getting so far off).
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
System Overview
Basic Princple and Implementation
The system simply consists of a 3D HMD, moving two cameras, and aluminum frames. The two cameras provide 3D vision for the depth perception. The 3D HMD is mounted on frame in front of a stool. The visitor looks through the 3D HMD to get the viewpoint of the two cameras. The time delay of the vision is kept to the minimum. The two cameras are mounted on the slightly tilted linear guide rail. The cameras move up to the height of 4 meters. The change in visual perception of the size of feet lead to renew the body image.
Fig.2 Basic principle of the illusion.
Fig.3 Exhibition booth (left), stereo camera on the rail (upper right), and stereo display (lower right)
References
Contribution
The original concept of the project was conceived by Ryuma Niiyama. The hardware and the vision system are created by Ryuma Niiyama and Tomohiro Akagawa.
Papers
Good-bye feet!
In Proceedings of the Virtual Reality International Conference 2009 (VRIC 2009), pp.393–396, Laval, France, April 2009.
BibTeX
@INPROCEEDINGS{NiiyamaAkagawa2009_GoodByeFeet,
author = {Ryuma Niiyama and Tomohiro Akagawa},
title = {Good-bye feet!},
booktitle = {Proc. Virtual Reality International Conference 2009 ({VRIC 2009})},
year = {2009},
pages = {393--396},
address = {Laval, France},
month = {April},
isbn = {2-9515730-8-1},
}