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How focused will you stay in a busy workshop?
In the first round of development, we created a workshop, machines, injury simulations and user feedback. We now built on that foundation with the goal of imitating the conditions in which work assignments must be completed. Changes in the soundscape, lighting and interruptions from colleagues are common distractions that challenge workers and can lead to accidental injuries. Powered by our custom event system, a session leader (such as a teacher or supervisor) can trigger distractions in critical moments, both demonstrating how one might be interrupted while working and testing an apprentice’s capacity to stay focused on the job.
A challenging task
Our application in the first iteration was a ‘sandbox’ experience, where a task was suggested, but application use was largely explorative. Now, employed with a series of challenges modeled after real workplace assignments, users must cope with time pressure, and keep their cool while operating machines. A task submission setup was engineered, and submitted tasks are evaluated for precision by a supervisor.
User avatar for increased immersion
Our research and own experience tells us that experiencing a controllable body (avatar) in VR can greatly enhance user experience, immersion and even create a multisensory perception. We hypothesize that giving users body ownership over an avatar can create a more memorable and immersive experience, which in turn can lead to improved memory retention. A male and a female avatar were modelled, rigged, animated and fine-tuned for use in our application. Now, when a user hurts themselves, a virtual human is injured instead of just a pair of levitating hands.
