Nudging the Somas: Exploring How Live-Configurable Mixed Reality Objects Shape Open-Ended Intercorporeal Movements

2025-09-17

AI Summary

This study investigates how virtual objects in mixed reality (MR) can implicitly guide spontaneous, co-located group coordination without explicit instructions. We propose “perceptual nudging”: a mechanism that dynamically modulates virtual objects’ physical properties—such as mass, elasticity, and force fields—to induce open-ended, embodied collaboration through ambiguity and real-time configurability. Implemented on our custom MR platform GravField—which integrates head-mounted displays, a parametric digital physics engine, and enhanced audiovisual feedback—the system enables on-site “object jockeys” to reconfigure virtual structures and inter-object relationships in situ. Empirical evaluation demonstrates that perceptual nudging effectively fosters interbodily coordination; trajectory analysis, video ethnography, and participant interviews jointly confirm that dynamic perceptual cues sustain continuous, self-organized collective movement. Our core contribution is the articulation and empirical validation of a de-orchestrated, perception-driven paradigm for MR group interaction.

Technology Category

• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Coordination and Collaboration
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Intelligent Robots: Manipulation

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economy

Abstract

Mixed Reality (MR) experiences increasingly explore how virtual elements can shape physical behaviour, yet how MR objects guide group movement remains underexplored. We address this gap by examining how virtual objects can nudge collective, co-located movement without relying on explicit instructions or choreography. We developed GravField, a co-located MR performance system where an "object jockey" live-configures virtual objects, springs, ropes, magnets, with real-time, parameterised "digital physics" (e.g., weight, elasticity, force) to influence the movement of headset-wearing participants. These properties were made perceptible through augmented visual and audio feedback, creating dynamic cognitive-somatic cues. Our analysis of the performances, based on video, interviews, soma trajectories, and field notes, indicates that these live nudges support emergent intercorporeal coordination and that ambiguity and real-time configuration sustain open-ended, exploratory engagement. Ultimately, our work offers empirical insights and design principles for MR systems that can guide group movement through embodied, felt dynamics.

Problem

• How MR objects guide group movement without instructions
• Exploring virtual objects' role in collective co-located movement
• Developing MR systems that shape embodied group dynamics

Innovation

• Live-configurable virtual objects with digital physics
• Augmented visual and audio feedback for cues
• Real-time parameter adjustments for emergent coordination