The cutting edge we have been working on emcompases a number of exciting areas that offer room for expansion.
Gamification
Our product (in its current form) makes use of gamification, which remains a debated topic. As with all serious games, the selection and implementation of gamification elements must be carefully made and tested. If done wrongly, such mechanics can be demotivating and, in our case, even harmful, if too much focus is shifted from the actual lessons of workshop safety to the completion of game goals. Nonetheless, considering how young our user base is, there is untapped potential, both for the single-user experience as well as an integration in the social setting that an apprenticeship is. Additionally, implementing further gamified competitive aspects to the application could lead to a greater distraction potential and thus, more dangerous situations to be aware of.
Multi-User and Educational Concept
Our product is so far designed for single-user use. We believe that allowing two or more users to participate in a single learning session could greatly increase engagement and widen the range of scenarios, interaction (and distraction!) possibilities. It could allow for a change of perspectives within the already existing workshop, e.g. where one user plays a supervisor or visitor while another user must fulfil work assignments. Furthermore, it could allow supervisors or teachers to be ‘present’ in the workshop while a trainee performs operations. This could lead to a deeper understanding and discussion of circumstances that caused an injury or lapse in judgement.
Of course, given a longer time frame for work would allow for a holistic integration in the apprenticeship education. This would mean working out a larger educative concept in which for example users would keep a log of their various injuries, spaced repetition could be employed, and user feedback/in-game information could be expanded.
Avatar Embodiment
The standardized questionnaire we used to evaluate Avatar Embodiment was published earlier this year (2021) and highlights the significance the phenomenon has in virtual reality products. The work is motivated by the need for standardization in measuring users’ experience, inferring that so far this research has been conducted in individual experiments with varying capacities. The research we have found and conducted ourselves suggests that avatar embodiment plays a crucial role in making VR more stimulating, engaging and immersive. Perhaps improvements in this area will create more comfortable, credible and enjoyable experiences for users, making the technology more accessible and attractive for mainstream use.
From Simulation to Sensation
The most experimental aspect of our project is creating a multisensory experience of physical injuries. Whereas for obvious reasons VR safety and hazard training is made for industrial settings, little research has aimed at using VR to simulate ‘shocking’ bodily harm for educational purposes. We have found research that demonstrates how users in VR will avoid virtual injuries, inferring the need to protect their virtual counterpart. However, considering the psychological implications that such experiences entail, it would be unethical to push boundaries in this aspect without professional psychological guidance.
Tracking
Creating consistently reliable physics, and ideally very accurate hand tracking (by using dedicated gloves for example) would greatly improve usability across the whole application. Many operational steps on the machines of the workshop involve precise hand movements (tightening, holding, gripping, sliding and more), and many injuries can happen to single fingers, from single movements. Creating this level of detail via additional sensors or hand-tracking, would help improve our simulation’s capacity for accurately and realistically reproducing injuries.
Enhancements
Besides these, the existing product still offers room for improvement. More accurate body tracking and avatar placement can improve the existing avatar embodiment experience. Our tasks can be designed to require more complex machine operations, ideally leading to more hectic activity and thus injuries. Our colleague-NPC can be rigged and given more realistic movement animations, thus improving its credibility as a real-life representation. Larger milestones within the existing simulation would include further mesh manipulation (bending and filing, for example) and requested machines such as the lathe. Lastly, performance optimizations would allow for a smoother overall experience.