Virtual Reality (VR) in Pediatrics: Innovative Perspectives With Special Reference To Clinical Applications and Pediatric Rehabilitation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Bittmann
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Mixed Reality ◽  
Clinical Applications ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Data Glove ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
Head Mounted Displays

Virtual reality (VR) is the term used to describe representation and perception in a computer-generated, virtual environment. The term was coined by author Damien Broderick in his 1982 novel “The Judas Mandala". The term "Mixed Reality" describes the mixing of virtual reality with pure reality. The term "hyper-reality" is also used. Immersion plays a major role here. Immersion describes the embedding of the user in the virtual world. A virtual world is considered plausible if the interaction is logical in itself. This interactivity creates the illusion that what seems to be happening is actually happening. A common problem with VR is "motion sickness." To create a sense of immersion, special output devices are needed to display virtual worlds. Here, "head-mounted displays", CAVE and shutter glasses are mainly used. Input devices are needed for interaction: 3D mouse, data glove, flystick as well as the omnidirectional treadmill, with which walking in virtual space is controlled by real walking movements, play a role here.

Non-Verbal Communication Language in Virtual Worlds

2021 ◽  
pp. 394-415
Author(s):  
Ivonne Citarella
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Verbal Communication ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Conscious Choice

Over the years, the virtual space has been changing, and the skills acquired by users have been improved, and the avatars, as well as the settings, have graphically become more and more sophisticated. In virtual reality, the avatar without an appropriate animation would move in jerks in a disharmonious way similar to a robot, but endowing it with a particular postural animation, you make a conscious choice of what information you want to transfer with its appearance and its posture. In recent years, research has focused on the study of communication and its importance. The purpose of this contribution is to analyze the animations present in Second Life trying to trace a socio-psychological picture of the non-verbal communication process in a virtual environment.

scholarly journals Supporting STEAM learning through student-developed Mixed Reality (MR) experiences

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Kathryn MacCallum
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mixed Reality ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
The Real

Mixed reality (MR) provides new opportunities for creative and innovative learning. MR supports the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real-time (MacCallum & Jamieson, 2017). The MR continuum links both virtual and augmented reality, whereby virtual reality (VR) enables learners to be immersed within a completely virtual world, while augmented reality (AR) blend the real and the virtual world. MR embraces the spectrum between the real and the virtual; the mix of the virtual and real worlds may vary depending on the application. The integration of MR into education provides specific affordances which make it specifically unique in supporting learning (Parson & MacCallum, 2020; Bacca, Baldiris, Fabregat, Graf & Kinshuk, 2014). These affordance enable students to support unique opportunities to support learning and develop 21st-century learning capabilities (Schrier, 2006; Bower, Howe, McCredie, Robinson, & Grover, 2014).   In general, most integration of MR in the classroom tend to be focused on students being the consumers of these experiences. However by enabling student to create their own experiences enables a wider range of learning outcomes to be incorporated into the learning experience. By enabling student to be creators and designers of their own MR experiences provides a unique opportunity to integrate learning across the curriculum and supports the develop of computational thinking and stronger digital skills. The integration of student-created artefacts has particularly been shown to provide greater engagement and outcomes for all students (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009).   In the past, the development of student-created MR experiences has been difficult, especially due to the steep learning curve of technology adoption and the overall expense of acquiring the necessary tools to develop these experiences. The recent development of low-cost mobile and online MR tools and technologies have, however, provided new opportunities to provide a scaffolded approach to the development of student-driven artefacts that do not require significant technical ability (MacCallum & Jamieson, 2017). Due to these advances, students can now create their own MR digital experiences which can drive learning across the curriculum.   This presentation explores how teachers at two high schools in NZ have started to explore and integrate MR into their STEAM classes.  This presentation draws on the results of a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project, investigating the experiences and reflections of a group of secondary teachers exploring the use and adoption of mixed reality (augmented and virtual reality) for cross-curricular teaching. The presentation will explore how these teachers have started to engage with MR to support the principles of student-created digital experiences integrated into STEAM domains.

scholarly journals Living in Virtual and Real Worlds: A Didactic Experience

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Lasala ◽  
Jara ◽  
Alamán
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Real World ◽  
Student Motivation ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Mixed Reality ◽  
Pilot Experiment ◽  
The Real ◽  
Proposal A ◽  
New Form

During the last decade some technologies have achieved the necessary maturity to allow the widespread emergence of Virtual Worlds; many people are living an alternative life in them. One objective of this paper is to argue that the blending of real and virtual worlds has been happening for centuries, and in fact is the mark of “civilization”. This project presents a proposal to improve student motivation in the classroom, through a new form of recreation of a mixed reality environment. To this end, two applications have been created that work together between the real environment and the virtual environment: these applications are called “Virtual Craft” and “Virtual Touch”. Virtual Craft is related with the real world and Virtual Touch is related with the virtual world. These applications are in constant communication with each other, since both students and teachers carry out actions that influence the real or virtual world. A gamification mechanics was used in the recreated environment, in order to motivate the students to carry out the activities assigned by the teacher. For the evaluation of the proposal, a pilot experiment with Virtual Craft was carried out in a Secondary Educational Center in Valls (Spain).

scholarly journals Research on the use of virtual reality in intervention and rescue activities

2022 ◽  
Vol 354 ◽  
pp. 00055
Author(s):  
Alin Irimia ◽  
Emilian Ghicioi ◽  
Daniel Pupăzan ◽  
Cristian Nicolescu
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Military Training ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Material Loss ◽  
The Real ◽  
High Loss ◽  
Artificial Environment

In recent years in the virtual reality the developers succeeded in creating an artificial environment that simulates reality so that the user has the impression of an almost real physical presence in the virtual world. By overlapping and synchronizing the projected images with spatial sounds and even forces that interact with the user, there is a detachment of the user from the real environment and an all-encompassing involvement in the virtual world. The virtual reality is present in aviation, medicine, military training and other top fields. The advantages of using the virtual environment are obvious for areas where inexperience can cause very high loss of life and material loss. Although the participants are immersed in the scenario of the virtual environment, the errors produced allow an evaluation of the mistakes made and their correction, the experience gained being then used in professional activity in the real world. Through the experience of the virtual environment, the fear of various dangers can be overcome, so that the objectives of the exercise can be fulfilled. The aim of the paper is to offer to the rescuers opportunities to interact with the elements of the virtual space to fulfill the purpose of the exercise.

scholarly journals Rear-Seat Productivity in Virtual Reality: Investigating VR Interaction in the Confined Space of a Car

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Jingyi Li ◽  
Ceenu George ◽  
Andrea Ngao ◽  
Kai Holländer ◽  
Stefan Mayer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Rear Seat ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Confined Space ◽  
Physical Restraints ◽  
Working Environments ◽  
Research And Design

Ubiquitous technology lets us work in flexible and decentralised ways. Passengers can already use travel time to be productive, and we envision even better performance and experience in vehicles with emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) headsets. However, the confined physical space constrains interactions while the virtual space may be conceptually borderless. We therefore conducted a VR study (N = 33) to examine the influence of physical restraints and virtual working environments on performance, presence, and the feeling of safety. Our findings show that virtual borders make passengers touch the car interior less, while performance and presence are comparable across conditions. Although passengers prefer a secluded and unlimited virtual environment (nature), they are more productive in a shared and limited one (office). We further discuss choices for virtual borders and environments, social experience, and safety responsiveness. Our work highlights opportunities and challenges for future research and design of rear-seat VR interaction.

scholarly journals Low-Asymmetry Interface for Multiuser VR Experiences with Both HMD and Non-HMD Users

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 397
Author(s):  
Qimeng Zhang ◽  
Ji-Su Ban ◽  
Mingyu Kim ◽  
Hae Won Byun ◽  
Chang-Hun Kim
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Mobile Device ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
User Study ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
And Behavior

We propose a low-asymmetry interface to improve the presence of non-head-mounted-display (non-HMD) users in shared virtual reality (VR) experiences with HMD users. The low-asymmetry interface ensures that the HMD and non-HMD users’ perception of the VR environment is almost similar. That is, the point-of-view asymmetry and behavior asymmetry between HMD and non-HMD users are reduced. Our system comprises a portable mobile device as a visual display to provide a changing PoV for the non-HMD user and a walking simulator as an in-place walking detection sensor to enable the same level of realistic and unrestricted physical-walking-based locomotion for all users. Because this allows non-HMD users to experience the same level of visualization and free movement as HMD users, both of them can engage as the main actors in movement scenarios. Our user study revealed that the low-asymmetry interface enables non-HMD users to feel a presence similar to that of the HMD users when performing equivalent locomotion tasks in a virtual environment. Furthermore, our system can enable one HMD user and multiple non-HMD users to participate together in a virtual world; moreover, our experiments show that the non-HMD user satisfaction increases with the number of non-HMD participants owing to increased presence and enjoyment.

Me and My VE, Part 5: Applications in Human Factors Research and Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 2051-2055
Author(s):  
Randall Spain ◽  
Benjamin Goldberg ◽  
Jeffrey Hansberger ◽  
Tami Griffith ◽  
Jeremy Flynn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Mixed Reality ◽  
Research Training ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Human Factors Research

Recent advances in technology have made virtual environments, virtual reality, augmented reality, and simulations more affordable and accessible to researchers, companies, and the general public, which has led to many novel use cases and applications. A key objective of human factors research and practice is determining how these technology-rich applications can be designed and applied to improve human performance across a variety of contexts. This session will demonstrate some of the distinct and diverse uses of virtual environments and mixed reality environments in an alternative format. The session will begin with each demonstrator providing a brief overview of their virtual environment (VE) and a description of how it has been used to address a particular problem or research need. Following the description portion of the session, each VE will be set-up at a demonstration station in the room, and session attendees will be encouraged to directly interact with the virtual environment and ask demonstrators questions about their research and inquire about the effectiveness of using VE for research, training, and evaluation purposes. The overall objective of this alternative session is to increase the awareness of how human factors professionals use VE technologies and increase the awareness of the capabilities and limitations of VE in supporting the work of HF professionals.

Benefits of Virtual Worlds in Educational Environments

2013 ◽  
pp. 305-315
Author(s):  
Vicente Galiano ◽  
Victoria Herranz
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
University Students ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Virtual Model ◽  
Educational Environments ◽  
The University

In this chapter, the authors describe the project of a virtual world that they developed in their university and with their students. In this work, they joined concepts like social networks and virtual reality, creating a virtual model of the University Miguel Hernandez (UMH), where students are able to walk around the campus, inside the buildings, chat with other students, and moreover, use videoconferencing rooms where students talk and see other students in the same virtual world. The authors describe this project, called UMHvirtual (available in http://virtual.umh.es), which has been supervised by the authors, implemented by a group of students, and focused on all the university students.

Virtual Worlds

2017 ◽  
pp. 549-568
Author(s):  
Michelangelo Tricarico
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Specific Field ◽  
Early School ◽  
Virtual Reconstruction ◽  
3D Virtual Environment ◽  
Master Builder

This chapter discusses the author's experience in virtual environments, with particular reference to virtual reconstruction. The events are narrated from the perspective of a student who at first developed his skills in this specific field at school, and then became competent and passionate enough to teach what he had learned in the course of time. He describes his experience from early school projects to the personal ones; from his award as a “Master Builder” to his early teaching lessons. Other learning activities that can be carried out in a virtual world are also illustrated, with particular reference to “coding”, which appears to be of great interest to the author. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the potential of a 3D virtual environment for the reconstruction of monuments, i.e., the author's area of expertise. It also provides a description of other activities that can be performed in a virtual environment, while illustrating the most common issues that can be experienced and suggesting how to solve them.

Self-Developing a MUVE for Research and Educational Innovations

2010 ◽  
pp. 453-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick V. Flor
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Educational Innovations ◽  
Single Person

Multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) researchers need to create their own virtual worlds and to stop waiting for industry to create innovations. The technology and instructional materials for creating virtual worlds have advanced to the point where a single person, unaided, can develop a virtual world that is suitable for experimentation—even though it may lack the aesthetics of commercially available worlds. The aim of this chapter is to demystify the development of virtual worlds by describing the fundamental skill set you must acquire to self-develop a virtual world. The skills are: modeling, texturing, animation, and programming. The author focuses on two of these skills, modeling and texturing, and describe a set of core techniques for creating the exterior of a virtual world. By practicing and building on these techniques, one can create the interiors and characters for more complex MUVES.

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