Passenger-centric factors influencing the experience of aircraft comfort

Enhancing passenger comfort in an air cabin environment is uniquely challenging. Air travel offers a restrictive passenger experience in terms of available space and the ability to change one’s position or journey. The first step to designing experiences for comfort is to take a broader view of the factors which influence in-flight comfort. While many studies have considered the design and services of aircrafts and airlines, this review focuses on the passenger and the internal and external factors which can affect their comfort. We present a descriptive model of comfort that comprises factors such as individual characteristics, personal travel context and interaction with others. This model could be used to develop an improved aircraft passenger experience

Structured evaluation of training in virtual environments

Virtual Environments (VEs) created through Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have been suggested as potentially beneficial for a number of applications. However a review of VEs and VR has highlighted the main barriers to implementation as: current technological limitations; usability issues with various systems; a lack of real applications; and therefore little proven value of use. These barriers suggest that industry would benefit from some structured guidance for developing effective VEs. To examine this ‘training’ was chosen to be explored, as it has been suggested as a potential early use of VEs and is of importance to many sectors. A review of existing case studies on VE training applications (VETs) examined type of training applications and VR systems being considered; state of development of these applications and results of any evaluation studies. In light of these case studies, it was possible to focus this work on the structured evaluation of training psycho-motor skills using VEs created by desktop VR. In order to perform structured evaluation, existing theories of training and evaluation were also reviewed. Using these theories, a framework for developing VETs was suggested. Applying this framework, two VETs were proposed, specified, developed and evaluated. Conclusions of this work highlighted the many areas in the development process of an effective VET that still need addressing. In particular, in the proposal stage, it is necessary to provide some guidance on the appropriateness of VET for particular tasks. In the specification and building stages, standard formats and techniques are required in order to guide the VE developer(s) in producing an effective VET. Finally in the evaluation stage, there are still tools required that highlight the benefits of VET and many more evaluation studies needed to contribute information back to the development process. Therefore VEs are still in their early stages and this work unifies existing work in the area specifically on training and highlights the gaps that need to be addressed before widespread implementation

Play&Tune: user-feedback in the development of a serious game for optimising hearing aid orientation

Many hearing aid (HA) users are dissatisfied with HA performance in social situations. One way to improve HA outcomes is training users to understand how HAs work. Play&Tune was designed to provide this training, and to foster autonomy in hearing rehabilitation. We carried out two prototype evaluations and a pre-release evaluation of Play&Tune with 71 HA users, using an interview or online survey. Users gave detailed feedback on their experiences with the app. Most participants enjoyed learning about HAs and expressed a desire for autonomy over their HA settings. Our case study reinforces the importance of user-feedback during app development

Understanding the complex needs of automotive training at final assembly lines

Automobile final assembly operators must be highly skilled to succeed in a low automation environment where multiple variants must be assembled in quick succession. This paper presents formal user studies conducted at OPEL and VOLVO Group to identify assembly training needs and a subset of requirements; and to explore potential features of a hypothetical game-based virtual training system. Stakeholder analysis, timeline analysis, link analysis, Hierarchical Task Analysis and thematic content analysis were used to analyse the results of interviews with various stakeholders (17 and 28 participants at OPEL and VOLVO, respectively). The results show that there is a strong case for the implementation of virtual training for assembly tasks. However, it was also revealed that stakeholders would prefer to use a virtual training to complement, rather than replace, training on pre-series vehicles

Structured evaluation of training in virtual environments

Virtual Environments (VEs) created through Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have been suggested as potentially beneficial for a number of applications. However a review of VEs and VR has highlighted the main barriers to implementation as: current technological limitations; usability issues with various systems; a lack of real applications; and therefore little proven value of use. These barriers suggest that industry would benefit from some structured guidance for developing effective VEs. To examine this ‘training’ was chosen to be explored, as it has been suggested as a potential early use of VEs and is of importance to many sectors. A review of existing case studies on VE training applications (VETs) examined type of training applications and VR systems being considered; state of development of these applications and results of any evaluation studies. In light of these case studies, it was possible to focus this work on the structured evaluation of training psycho-motor skills using VEs created by desktop VR. In order to perform structured evaluation, existing theories of training and evaluation were also reviewed. Using these theories, a framework for developing VETs was suggested. Applying this framework, two VETs were proposed, specified, developed and evaluated. Conclusions of this work highlighted the many areas in the development process of an effective VET that still need addressing. In particular, in the proposal stage, it is necessary to provide some guidance on the appropriateness of VET for particular tasks. In the specification and building stages, standard formats and techniques are required in order to guide the VE developer(s) in producing an effective VET. Finally in the evaluation stage, there are still tools required that highlight the benefits of VET and many more evaluation studies needed to contribute information back to the development process. Therefore VEs are still in their early stages and this work unifies existing work in the area specifically on training and highlights the gaps that need to be addressed before widespread implementation

The Industrial Track of EuroVR 2018 Proceedings of the 15th Annual EuroVR Conference

We are pleased to present these conference proceedings in the VTT Technology series, the papers accepted for the Industrial Track of EuroVR 2018, the 15th annual EuroVR conference, Savoy Place, London, United Kingdom, 22nd to 23th October 2018. In previous years the EuroVR conference has been held in Bremen (2014), Lecco (2015), Athens (2016), and Laval (2017). This series was initiated in 2004 by the INTUITION Network of Excellence in Virtual and Augmented Reality, supported by the European Commission until 2008, and incorporated within the Joint Virtual Reality Conferences (JVRC) from 2009 to 2013. The focus of the EuroVR conferences is to present, each year, novel Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies, including software systems, display technologies, interaction devices, and applications, to foster engagement between industry, academia, and the public sector, and to promote the development and deployment of VR/MR/AR technologies in new, emerging, and existing fields. This annual event of the EuroVR association (https://www.eurovr-association.org/) provides a unique platform for exchange between researchers, technology providers, and end users around commercial or research applications. This publication is a collection of the industrial papers presented at the conference. It provides an interesting perspective into current and future industrial applications of VR/AR/MR. The Industrial Track is an opportunity for industry to tell the research and development communities what they use the technologies for, to say what they really think about VR/AR/MR, and to explain their needs now and in the future. You will find presentations from large and small industries from all over Europe and beyond. We would like to warmly thank the industrial committee chairs for their great support and commitment to the conference, and special thanks go to the local organizing committee for their great effort in making this event happen . Enjoy your time in London! On behalf of the organising committee, EuroVR IPC member and Principal Scientist at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Finland Research Fellow and Lecturer at School of Simulation and Visualisation, Glasgow School of Arts, U