Embedded Files
A virtual reality initiative to support new perspectives in interior design
A virtual reality initiative to support new perspectives in interior design
This project represents a collaboration between students in the University of Florida's Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering and the University of Florida's Department of Interior Design. The goal was to incorporate immersive technology into the interior design process and allow students to step into the shoes of different kinds of people through virtual reality. By utilizing virtual characters, interior designers can experience the environments they design from new perspectives and garner insights they might have missed by looking at them from their own perspectives. Currently, a wheelchair character has been implemented and the application has been tested with an interior design student. The feedback received from this student has helped support the usefulness of the application.
The Man with the Vision
The Man with the Vision
Mr. Jason Meneely envisioned this application after experimenting with different ways immersive technology could be used to help his interior design students create better environments. He wanted to give them a new way to view their environments and help them develop empathy for different types of people as they designed.
He pitched his idea to the University of Florida's "Virtual Reality for the Social Good" class and provided continued input throughout the development of the project.
Contact Information
Contact Information
Jason Meneely
Associate Professor
Department of Interior Design
352 294-1436
Meet the Team
Meet the Team
Sarah Garcia
John Loomis
Andrew Shafer
Kyle Walsh
An Introduction
An Introduction
This video provides a short introduction to the application and demonstrates the types of insights that can be gained by using it in the interior design process.
By simulating the experience of someone in a wheelchair, interior designs can be made more user friendly and accessible for these people.
Wheelchair Character Functionality
Wheelchair Character Functionality
The wheelchair provides two different usage modes, the manual VR mode and an electric mode.
The manual VR mode helps to simulate how a wheelchair actually behaves and allows the user to move around by grabbing the wheels with the Oculus touch controllers. It determines how fast to move based on the speed of the user's hands and can be slowed down by gripping the wheels. In addition, the wheelchair is turned by grabbing the wheels and moving one's hands in opposite directions.
The electric mode allows the user to move around the scene by using the joystick on the left touch controller. This provides an easy alternative to evaluate the scene from a wheelchair user's perspective.
Additional User Feedback
Additional User Feedback
The rest of the feedback from our interior design student, Ellen Straub, can be found in this video. After viewing her scene from the perspective of someone in a wheelchair, she's able to grasp new insights that she hadn't considered before. Her feedback helps illustrate how powerful this application can be in an interior design setting.
Special thanks to Ellen for allowing us to use her environment and for taking the time to provide her feedback!
Next Steps
Next Steps
The project will undergo additional development in future semesters to incorporate new characters and functionality that could not be completed during this development cycle. Currently, only the wheelchair character and an able bodied character (which can walk around the scene or utilize teleportation to reduce nausea) have been implemented.
Future characters may include:
- A child character
- An elderly character with a walker
- A visually impaired character
Google Sites
Report abuse