Low-Cost Mixed Reality Simulator for Industrial Vehicle Environments.

High-end industrial vehicle simulators are generally expensive and aim at providing a high level of realism. The access to such simulators is often a limited resource to researchers and developers who find themselves using a PC-based simulator instead. We challenge this approach by introducing a low-cost mixed reality simulator for industrial vehicles that allows to test new vehicle control concepts and design ideas in a rapid prototyping manner. Our simulator prototype consists of a head-mounted projection display, a CAVE-like room covered with a retro-reflective cloth and a rotatable chair with controls to steer an industrial vehicle. The created digital environment represents an obstacle course for an excavator and can be controlled by a joystick, a keyboard and can be explored by natural head movements.