A simple interface to the Virtual Collaboration Arena for MATLAB applications

The Virtual Collaboration Arena (VirCA) is a modular, easy to use 3D framework supporting the development of augmented (real and virtual) reality applications. To apply the services provided by VirCA, special VirCA interfaces are needed in the actual programming environment. Native interface does not exist for some special environments, like e.g. for MATLAB, which is a commonly used for implementing complex models. The goal of the paper is to introduce a possible method for interconnecting the prototype spatial ETO-MOTOR model implemented in MATLAB with the 3D VirCA augmented reality environment. This is achieved by a newly developed adapter application, which translates between the two environments and uses standardized network protocols for communication. The ETO-MOTOR is a behaviour model based upon ethological studies. In the case of the example application, the type of the ETO-MOTOR is a “spatial ETO-MOTOR”, i.e. it can directly send spatial coordinates or heading directions to the virtual actors of the model. The prototype of the spatial ETO-MOTOR is constructed as a Fuzzy Rule Interpolation (FRI) based fuzzy automaton. In the example of the paper the ETO-MOTOR describes the behaviour of a dog in an unknown environment. In the original version of the model implementation, it has a very simple proof-of-concept user interface, which is sufficient for basic testing only, but very far from real world experiences. The personal interaction with the model thanks to the 3D VirCA augmented reality environment can yield much more direct observations and hence more profit for ethologists. The developed MATLAB-VirCA connector application provided with this paper can be easily modified to suit the needs of other third party applications too.