Projects | Interactive Realities Laboratory

FirstModulAR: Designing and Integrating Augmented Reality User Interface Modules for First Responders

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 10:10:52 -0500

As technology advances, the information available for first responders also grows. Presenting every single data point available would lead to an overload of information. Instead, this research will collaborate with public safety officers to build an augmented reality platform to display the most pertinent information. This will increase performance by providing more information to make informed decisions in field operations.

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FirstModulAR is a public safety Augmented Reality (AR) design project to accelerate the adoption of AR by first responders. Our overall goal is to identify, based on existing data as well as systematic collaboration with first responders, where AR can most benefit public safety.

Next-Generation Public Safety UIs

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 10:10:31 -0500

Go to Project Site

Remote Surgery Guidance Using Virtual Reality And 360º Video

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 10:10:06 -0500

There is a strong demand for the use of virtual reality (VR) in healthcare, particularly in surgical procedures. This project motivates this need and presents the design and prototype implementation of Virtual Reality Remote Surgery Guidance (VRSG). This tool allows the live connection of a remote specialist surgeon to provide live guidance on surgeries at remote locations, particularly in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). VRSG also supports an educational experience by offering the ability for users to follow recorded surgeries for practice and review purposes. The main contributions of this work are the feasibility demonstration of the proposed VRSG system through a rigorous 3D user interface design process, the implementation of a prototype VR application that realizes the proposed design, and the usability evaluation that offers evidence towards the effectiveness of the proposed tool. VRSG’s design and implementation can be summarized as follows. The design of an interactive, immersive interface of the remote surgeon connected to the surgery room via an immersive 360º video stream mounted in a strategic location inside the surgery room. Two additional non-immersive streams were added to the interface to show a detailed view of the surgery site and monitor with patient’s vital signs. The remote surgeon offers guidance to the local surgery team by performing annotations directly onto the detailed views, which are transmitted to the surgery room. To simulate the surgery room interface, we created a desktop application that displays the remote surgeon’s audio, current point of view, and annotations. All the streaming videos can be saved on the local server in support of the educational element of VRSG. We performed a usability evaluation of VRSG with 6 participants to test the efficiency of the remote surgeon’s user interface. Descriptive statistics show that participants had an overall positive experience with the tool, and qualitative observations pointed to limitations that we discuss and address as recommendations for the evolution of the VRSG. Overall, this project achieved its goals through the design, implementation, and usability assessment of a tool to facilitate remote surgery guidance by experts.

EDA Device Comparison

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 10:09:46 -0500

Electrodermal responses (EDA) have been shown to provide insight on the emotional state of a person. Two devices that measure the electrical characteristics of the skin that allows us to monitor this activity are the EmpticaE4 and the Emotibit, The Empatica E4 has long since been a well established and respected device that has been used on multiple studies. On the other hand, the Emotibit is a relative newcomer that promises to do everything that the E4 wants, but at a much cheaper cost. This study aims to prove or disprove this establishing whether they are comparable or not. If the study is able to prove that these devices are equivalent, it would benefit other researchers greatly by lowering the cost barrier of entry.

Time Perception

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 12:58:03 -0400

Conference Paper

Research has found a time compression effect related to virtual reality. Just like how we feel like time passes quicker when we are on the computer, time feels quicker in VR. Our motivation is to reduce this effect to achieve VR experiences that are closer to real life. We are researching to what degree passive haptics affect our perception of time. We created an immersive VR experience where the virtual environment simulates the actual room around the user, moving objects such as doors, some devices, and users’ hands are tracked and displayed through the VR headset as well.

Validation and Demonstration of a Customizable Virtual Reality-Based Traffic Stop Simulation for Training and Practice with the Hillsborough Police Department

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 16:47:19 -0400

The interaction between police officers and drivers is a critical factor that can endanger the officer and requires extensive training. A Virtual Reality (VR) solution can help with training, expose officers to controlled risks, and improve their performance. This is possible because VR features can influence interpersonal interactions and how real the experience is perceived. Therefore, we propose a project to develop and validate a VR tool to simulate traffic stops with a focus on measurable training outcomes. Furthermore, we intend to design and implement a trainer user interface for personalizing the traffic stop simulation and to assess the benefit of next-generation traffic stop technology over current traffic stop technology.