TilePoP: Tile-type Pop-up Prop for Virtual Reality

We present TilePoP, a new type of pneumatically-actuated interface deployed as floor tiles which dynamically pop up to large shapes to construct proxy objects for whole-body interactions in Virtual Reality. TilePoP consists of a 2D array of stacked cube-shaped airbags designed with specific folding structures, enabling each airbag to be inflated into a physical proxy and deflated back to a tile when not in use. TilePoP is capable of providing haptic feedback for the whole body and can even support human body weight. Thus it affords new interaction possibilities in VR. We describe the design and implementation in details. We finally demonstrate the applications and conducted a preliminary user evaluation to understand the experiences of using TilePoP.