Preliminary experiments with EVA - Serious Games virtual fire drill simulator

Fire keeps claiming a large number of victims in building fires. Although there are ways to minimize such events, fire drills are used to train the building occupants for emergency situations, organizing and implement these exercises is a complex task, and sometimes not sucessfull. Moreover, fire drills require the mobilization of some finantial resources and time, and affect the normal functioning of the site where they occur. To overcome the aforementioned issues, computer games have a set of features that might overcome this problem. They offer engagement to their players, keeping them focused, and providing training to real life situations. The game evaluate users, providing them some feedback, making possible for the players to improve their performance. The proposed methodology aims to study the viability of using a game that recreates a fire drill in a 3D environment using Serious Games. The information acquired through the players performance is then used to implement an artificial population. A sample of 20 subjects was selected to test the application. The results are promising, showing that the exercise had a positive impact on users. Moreover, the data acquired was used to demonstrate the possibility of creating an artificial population based on human

Walking with virtual humans : understanding human response to virtual humanoids' appearance and behaviour while navigating in immersive VR

In this thesis, we present a set of studies whose results have allowed us to analyze how to improve the realism, navigation, and behaviour of the avatars in an immersive virtual reality environment. In our simulations, participants must perform a series of tasks and we have analyzed perceptual and behavioural data. The results of the studies have allowed us to deduce what improvements are needed to be incorporated to the original simulations, in order to enhance the perception of realism, the navigation technique, the rendering of the avatars, their behaviour or their animations. The most reliable technique for simulating avatars’ behaviour in a virtual reality environment should be based on the study of how humans behave within the environment. For this purpose, it is necessary to build virtual environments where participants can navigate safely and comfortably with a proper metaphor and, if the environment is populated with avatars, simulate their behaviour accurately. All these aspects together will make the participants behave in a way that is closer to how they would behave in the real world. Besides, the integration of these concepts could provide an ideal platform to develop different types of applications with and without collaborative virtual reality such as emergency simulations, teaching, architecture, or designing. In the first contribution of this thesis, we carried out an experiment to study human decision making during an evacuation. We were interested to evaluate to what extent the behaviour of a virtual crowd can affect individuals' decisions. From the second contribution, in which we studied the perception of realism with bots and humans performing just locomotion or varied animations, we can conclude that the combination of having human-like avatars with animation variety can increase the overall realism of a crowd simulation, trajectories and animation. The preliminary study presented in the third contribution of this thesis showed that realistic rendering of the environment and the avatars do not appear to increase the perception of realism in the participants, which is consistent with works presented previously. The preliminary results in our walk-in-place contribution showed a seamless and natural transition between walk-in-place and normal walk. Our system provided a velocity mapping function that closely resembles natural walk. We observed through a pilot study that the system successfully reduces motion sickness and enhances immersion. Finally, the results of the contribution related to locomotion in collaborative virtual reality showed that animation synchronism and footstep sound of the avatars representing the participants do not seem to have a strong impact in terms of presence and feeling of avatar control. However, in our experiment, incorporating natural animations and footstep sound resulted in smaller clearance values in VR than previous work in the literature. The main objective of this thesis was to improve different factors related to virtual reality experiences to make the participants feel more comfortable in the virtual environment. These factors include the behaviour and appearance of the virtual avatars and the navigation through the simulated space in the experience. By increasing the realism of the avatars and facilitating navigation, high scores in presence are achieved during the simulations. This provides an ideal framework for developing collaborative virtual reality applications or emergency simulations that require participants to feel as if they were in real life.En aquesta tesi, es presenta un conjunt d'estudis els resultats dels quals ens han permès analitzar com millorar el realisme, la navegació i el comportament dels avatars en un entorn de realitat virtual immersiu. En les nostres simulacions, els participants han de realitzar una sèrie de tasques i hem analitzat dades perceptives i de comportament mentre les feien. Els resultats dels estudis ens han permès deduir quines millores són necessàries per a ser incorporades a les simulacions originals, amb la finalitat de millorar la percepció del realisme, la tècnica de navegació, la representació dels avatars, el seu comportament o les seves animacions. La tècnica més fiable per simular el comportament dels avatars en un entorn de realitat virtual hauria de basar-se en l'estudi de com es comporten els humans dins de l¿entorn virtual. Per a aquest propòsit, és necessari construir entorns virtuals on els participants poden navegar amb seguretat i comoditat amb una metàfora adequada i, si l¿entorn està poblat amb avatars, simular el seu comportament amb precisió. Tots aquests aspectes junts fan que els participants es comportin d'una manera més pròxima a com es comportarien en el món real. A més, la integració d'aquests conceptes podria proporcionar una plataforma ideal per desenvolupar diferents tipus d'aplicacions amb i sense realitat virtual col·laborativa com simulacions d'emergència, ensenyament, arquitectura o disseny. En la primera contribució d'aquesta tesi, vam realitzar un experiment per estudiar la presa de decisions durant una evacuació. Estàvem interessats a avaluar en quina mesura el comportament d'una multitud virtual pot afectar les decisions dels participants. A partir de la segona contribució, en la qual estudiem la percepció del realisme amb robots i humans que realitzen només una animació de caminar o bé realitzen diverses animacions, vam arribar a la conclusió que la combinació de tenir avatars semblants als humans amb animacions variades pot augmentar la percepció del realisme general de la simulació de la multitud, les seves trajectòries i animacions. L'estudi preliminar presentat en la tercera contribució d'aquesta tesi va demostrar que la representació realista de l¿entorn i dels avatars no semblen augmentar la percepció del realisme en els participants, que és coherent amb treballs presentats anteriorment. Els resultats preliminars de la nostra contribució de walk-in-place van mostrar una transició suau i natural entre les metàfores de walk-in-place i caminar normal. El nostre sistema va proporcionar una funció de mapatge de velocitat que s'assembla molt al caminar natural. Hem observat a través d'un estudi pilot que el sistema redueix amb èxit el motion sickness i millora la immersió. Finalment, els resultats de la contribució relacionada amb locomoció en realitat virtual col·laborativa van mostrar que el sincronisme de l'animació i el so dels avatars que representen els participants no semblen tenir un fort impacte en termes de presència i sensació de control de l'avatar. No obstant això, en el nostre experiment, la incorporació d'animacions naturals i el so de passos va donar lloc a valors de clearance més petits en RV que treballs anteriors ja publicats. L'objectiu principal d'aquesta tesi ha estat millorar els diferents factors relacionats amb experiències de realitat virtual immersiva per fer que els participants se sentin més còmodes en l'entorn virtual. Aquests factors inclouen el comportament i l'aparença dels avatars i la navegació a través de l'entorn virtual. En augmentar el realisme dels avatars i facilitar la navegació, s'aconsegueixen altes puntuacions en presència durant les simulacions. Això proporciona un marc ideal per desenvolupar aplicacions col·laboratives de realitat virtual o simulacions d'emergència que requereixen que els participants se sentin com si estiguessin en la vida realPostprint (published version

A Fire to be Lighted: The Training of American Astronauts From 1959 to the Present

This study examines the training of American astronauts from the selection of the original Mercury astronauts in 1959 to the present, as crews of six work aboard the International Space Station. It makes the primary argument that through all of those years, the training sequence has successfully adapted to the challenges of preparing astronauts for flight far more than it has failed. It will examine in more detail than any previous publication how training devices for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, and International Space Station programs helped astronauts to make this statement true. This study will also make the argument that the successful training of astronauts helped prove the value of sending them into space. Sessions at a variety of locales, from electronic flight simulators, to neutral buoyancy pools, to virtual reality laboratories have given astronauts the mental and physical flexibility in space missions that only they possess. In other words, they are not automatons, but rather people who can develop their skills through training. This study will demonstrate that when their missions began, those skills contributed to spectacular successes in space. Astronauts have returned a bevy of scientific data from their scientific experiments in Earth orbit and from their walks on the Moon during Apollo thanks to their trained eyes and minds. They have also serviced the Hubble Space Telescope and constructed an International Space Station that is longer than a football field thanks to their training. As the 21st century continues, astronauts will journey on bolder missions to near Earth asteroids, back to the Moon, and onto Mars. The instructors who train them for those missions, whether belonging to a government or a company, will benefit from reading this study because they will gain a sense of what training methods have worked historically and understand the tremendously strong track record of human accomplishments in space given adequate training

Education in Undergraduate Construction Management Degrees - Is it "Construction" or "Management" that is in bold type?

The proposition of this study is that the content of education in construction management degree programs has changed over time. Content has moved away from construction technology and has moved more towards generic areas of management. Here, issues arise such as prescriptive versus principle-base teaching and the degree to which experiential learning can be provided. This study explores quantifiable data to test the above proposition over an extended period of time for a selected University in Australia. The study looks at course handbook data for the construction management degree including the likes of assigned subject credit points and contact hours. From the analysis, debate and related sources of supporting information are used to extrapolate themes demonstrating the resultant changes in graduate profile arising from the analysis. Comment is also provided on the impact of such changes including the differentiation of university graduates in the past and present. The industry perspective is also canvassed in terms of how changes have affected their expectations relating to employment of University qualified graduates

Exploração dos benefícios mútuos entre BIM e jogos de simulação

Nos últimos anos tem-se verificado um crescimento de jogos sérios e de simulação. Este tipo de jogos tem como principais objetivos apoiar o treino de pessoas ou equipas, estudar o comportamentos dos jogadores perante determinadas situações ou simulação de vários cenários de forma a prever os resultados finais das soluções adotadas para esses cenários.Um fator de grande relevância para a eficácia do uso de jogos sérios e jogos de simulação é o envolvimento do jogador no jogo. Tal envolvimento influencia as ações do próprio jogador no decorrer do jogo. Assim, quanto mais imerso estiver o jogador maior será o seu envolvimento e mais naturais e espontâneas serão as suas ações. Para tal, a criação de um ambiente de jogo similar a ambientes reais, com comportamentos físicos semelhantes aos comportamentos reais torna-se um foco de grande relevância para que este envolvimento do jogador seja atingido. No caso do jogo ter como fundamento a análise comportamental de pessoas em situações de emergência ou risco, como por exemplo evacuação de um edifício em chamas, este envolvimento é um elemento chave para que os dados recolhidos durante o jogo sejam fidedignos de forma a poderem ser utilizados noutros estudos e simulações. Assim, para este tipo de jogos de simulação, o recurso a modelos de edifícios reais vem enriquecer as experiências realizadas.Paralelamente a este crescimento de jogos sérios e de simulação, tem-se verificado também um crescimento do conceito Building Information Modeling (BIM) que consiste no representação digital das características físicas e funcional de um edifício. Assim, toda a informação associada a um edifício passa a estar reunida de forma a melhorar a partilha de informação entre as entidades envolvidas no processo de desenvolvimento do edifício. Informação sobre a geometria dos elementos do edifício, o mobiliário, os materiais aplicados (propriedades físicas e visuais) são dados que se encontram definidos no próprio modelo digital do edifício. Contudo, os softwares de Arquitetura, Engenharia e Construção (AEC) carecem de funcionalidades de interação e de visualização tridimensional e que são valorizados durante as fases de projeto, construção e comercialização do edifício.Neste trabalho pretende-se explorar os benefícios e obstáculos da utilização de modelos BIM de edifícios para a criação de cenários de jogos de simulação e ao mesmo tempo avaliar as potencialidades e mais valias que a utilização de motores de jogo poderá trazer para a industria AEC. Como resultado é proposto o desenvolvimento de uma framework, baseada numa arquitetura Cliente-Servidor, que permita a interoperabilidade entre softwares de modelação habitualmente utilização na AEC e motores de jogo. Espera-se que a framework possibilite a criação de cenários de jogo realistas a partir dos modelos BIM dos edifícios, enriquecidos com informação associada ao edifício, de forma a contribuir para o aumento da imersão nos jogos de simulação

Code Red: Mobile, a live/synthetic test bed for firefighter training

The State of Victoria, Australia is prone to disastrous bushfires. The Country Fire Authority of Victoria is the principal bushfire response organisation. Local brigades of mainly volunteers learn how to fight fires through classroom learning and field exercises. The CODE RED: MOBILE test bed features Live/Synthetic elements, where ‘Live’ firefighters participate in an exercise where a virtual or ‘synthetic’ bushfire is delivered to them in the field on an iPad3 in the 7scenes game framework (7scenes.com). A model of the Hanging Rock Reserve, with a bushfire undergoing a wind change, was made in the Sandbox2 game editor (crytek.com). This was a model of the real world location of the exercise. Firefighters were divided into two groups: one group received the information about the bushfire’s progress as dynamic-static movies, and the other group saw static screenshots from the same movies. Both were annotated with further information. This media supported with maps and textual information, was delivered at the real world location of three stages of the bushfire undergoing a wind change at the Hanging Rock Reserve. This experiment showed that either form of media was suitable for training firefighters in a mobile learning and decision making exercise using a mobile device. The participants carried GPS and their movements were tracked. Spatio-temporal analysis was used to detect problems with the design of the exercise, and to find participants with aberrant behaviour or difficulties with the exercise. Fractal analysis of the tracks uncovered five Domains of Spatial Scale. Three of the domains at different spatial scales revealed where participants were walking through open areas in relatively straight paths, in another domain they had to find ways through gateways and over bridges, and at another they were meeting the boundaries of the exercise and turning sharply back, or recrossing their tracks. This data is valuable for the analysis and design Live/Synthetic exercises: at various spatial scales particular exercises can be made more difficult or easier to complete depending on the fitness or expertise of the participants. The research proposes that emergency organisations would benefit from Live/Synthetic exercises using mobile devices, for joint or individual training of firefighters and Incident Management Teams

The Lived Experience of Virtual Environments: A Phenomenological Study

This is study of the experience of virtual environments (VE) in the context of safety training. Research involves participants from two companies who use VEs for safety training in hazardous work environments. The research approach is phenomenology. The key findings of the study show how the users actively form the VE experience. These insights will be useful for VE research and development