Environments and System Types of Virtual Reality Technology in STEM: a Survey
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paper_title: Empirical evidence, evaluation criteria and challenges for the effectiveness of virtual and mixed reality tools for training operators of car service maintenance

paper_content:

State of the art review of car service training with virtual and augmented reality.Current criteria considered by researchers focus on training effectiveness.Limited assessment of trainees experience pre- and post-training.This paper reports challenges for next generation of studies on training technologies. The debate on effectiveness of virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR) tools for training professionals and operators is long-running with prominent contributions arguing that there are several shortfalls of experimental approaches and assessment criteria reported within the literature. In the automotive context, although car-makers were pioneers in the use of VR/MR tools for supporting designers, researchers started only recently to explore the effectiveness of VR/MR systems as mean for driving external operators of service centres to acquire the procedural skills necessary for car maintenance processes. In fact, from 463 journal articles on VR/MR tools for training published in the last thirty years, we identified only eight articles in which researchers experimentally tested the effectiveness of VR/MR tools for training service operators' skills. To survey the current findings and the deficiencies of these eight studies, we use two main drivers: (i) a well-known framework of organizational training programmes, and (ii) a list of eleven evaluation criteria widely applied by researchers of different fields for assessing the effectiveness of training carried out with VR/MR systems. The analysis that we present allows us to: (i) identify a trend among automotive researchers of focusing their analysis only on car service operators' performance in terms of time and errors, by leaving unexplored important pre- and post-training aspects that could affect the effectiveness of VR/MR tools to deliver training contents - e.g., people skills, previous experience, cibersickness, presence and engagement, usability and satisfaction and (ii) outline the future challenges for designing and assessing VR/MR tools for training car service operators.
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paper_title: On encouraging multiple views for visualization

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Visualization enables 'seeing the unseen', and provides new insight into the underlying data. However, users far too easily believe or rely on a single representation of the data; this view may be a favourite method, the simplest to perform, or a method that has always been used. A single representation may generate a misinterpretation of the information or provide a situation where the user is missing the 'richness' of the data content. By displaying the data in multiple ways a user may understand the information through different perspectives, overcome possible misinterpretations and perform interactive investigative visualization through correlating the information between views. Thus, the use of multiple views of the same information should be encouraged. We believe the visualization system itself should actively encourage the generation of multiple views by providing appropriate tools to aid in this operation. We present and categorise issues for encouraging multiple views and provide a framework for the generation, management and manipulation of such views.
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paper_title: A Survival Guide for the Social Scientist

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In this article, we provide the nontechnical reader with a fundamental understanding of the components of virtual reality (VR) and a thorough discussion of the role VR has played in social science. First, we provide a brief overview of the hardware and equipment used to create VR and review common elements found within the virtual environment that may be of interest to social scientists, such as virtual humans and interactive, multisensory feedback. Then, we discuss the role of VR in existing social scientific research. Specif- ically, we review the literature on the study of VR as an object, wherein we discuss the effects of the technology on human users; VR as an application, wherein we consider real-world applications in areas such as medicine and education; and VR as a method, wherein we provide a comprehensive outline of studies in which VR technologies are used to study phenomena that have traditionally been studied in physical settings, such as nonverbal behavior and social interaction. We then present a content analysis of the literature, tracking the trends for this research over the last two decades. Finally, we present some possibilities for future research for interested social scientists.
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paper_title: Design concerns in the engineering of virtual worlds for learning

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The convergence of 3D simulation and social networking into current multi-user virtual environments has opened the door to new forms of interaction for learning in order to complement the face-to-face and Web 2.0-based systems. Yet, despite a growing user community, design knowledge for virtual worlds remains patchy, particularly when it comes to an understanding of the particular nature of design in virtual environments, the relationship between virtual and real-world contexts of design, as well as the engineering issues it raises and the management of any related risks. In this article, we explore such issues based on our experience of socio-technical engineering of a novel learning programme for higher education with a substantial virtual component. The project's significance stems from the large number of stake-holders involved, the relatively large scale of the virtual world development and the strategic significance of such a development within the learning programme. Of particular novelty is our exploration of the relationship between virtual and real-world contexts of design, indicating when they align and differ, showing when tools and techniques translate and when new tools and techniques may be required.
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paper_title: Empirical evidence, evaluation criteria and challenges for the effectiveness of virtual and mixed reality tools for training operators of car service maintenance

paper_content:

State of the art review of car service training with virtual and augmented reality.Current criteria considered by researchers focus on training effectiveness.Limited assessment of trainees experience pre- and post-training.This paper reports challenges for next generation of studies on training technologies. The debate on effectiveness of virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR) tools for training professionals and operators is long-running with prominent contributions arguing that there are several shortfalls of experimental approaches and assessment criteria reported within the literature. In the automotive context, although car-makers were pioneers in the use of VR/MR tools for supporting designers, researchers started only recently to explore the effectiveness of VR/MR systems as mean for driving external operators of service centres to acquire the procedural skills necessary for car maintenance processes. In fact, from 463 journal articles on VR/MR tools for training published in the last thirty years, we identified only eight articles in which researchers experimentally tested the effectiveness of VR/MR tools for training service operators' skills. To survey the current findings and the deficiencies of these eight studies, we use two main drivers: (i) a well-known framework of organizational training programmes, and (ii) a list of eleven evaluation criteria widely applied by researchers of different fields for assessing the effectiveness of training carried out with VR/MR systems. The analysis that we present allows us to: (i) identify a trend among automotive researchers of focusing their analysis only on car service operators' performance in terms of time and errors, by leaving unexplored important pre- and post-training aspects that could affect the effectiveness of VR/MR tools to deliver training contents - e.g., people skills, previous experience, cibersickness, presence and engagement, usability and satisfaction and (ii) outline the future challenges for designing and assessing VR/MR tools for training car service operators.
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paper_title: Computers for Everyone

paper_content:

This book is the first of a continuing series of publications, composed of 56 articles written by first year students in the Department of Computing and Maths, in the first 6 weeks of their first semester, as part of their assessed work for the Introduction to Computer Science module These articles all achieved a mark of 60% or greater.
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paper_title: Computers for Everyone

paper_content:

This book is the first of a continuing series of publications, composed of 56 articles written by first year students in the Department of Computing and Maths, in the first 6 weeks of their first semester, as part of their assessed work for the Introduction to Computer Science module These articles all achieved a mark of 60% or greater.
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paper_title: Spatial Augmented Reality: Merging Real and Virtual Worlds

paper_content:

Like virtual reality, augmented reality is becoming an emerging platform in new application areas for museums, edutainment, home entertainment, research, industry, and the art communities using novel approaches which have taken augmented reality beyond traditional eye-worn or hand-held displays. In this book, the authors discuss spatial augmented reality approaches that exploit optical elements, video projectors, holograms, radio frequency tags, and tracking technology, as well as interactive rendering algorithms and calibration techniques in order to embed synthetic supplements into the real environment or into a live video of the real environment. Special Features: - Comprehensive overview - Detailed mathematical equations - Code fragments - Implementation instructions - Examples of Spatial AR displays The authors have put together a preliminary collection of Errata. Updates will be posted to this site as necessary.
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paper_title: Virtual environment display system

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A head-mounted, wide-angle, stereoscopic display system controlled by operator position, voice and gesture has been developed for use as a multipurpose interface environment. The system provides a multisensory, interactive display environment in which a user can virtually explore a 360-degree synthesized or remotely sensed environment and can viscerally interact with its components. Primary applications of the system are in telerobotics, management of large-scale integrated information systems, and human factors research. System configuration, application scenarios, and research directions are described.
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paper_title: Virtual environment display system

paper_content:

A head-mounted, wide-angle, stereoscopic display system controlled by operator position, voice and gesture has been developed for use as a multipurpose interface environment. The system provides a multisensory, interactive display environment in which a user can virtually explore a 360-degree synthesized or remotely sensed environment and can viscerally interact with its components. Primary applications of the system are in telerobotics, management of large-scale integrated information systems, and human factors research. System configuration, application scenarios, and research directions are described.
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paper_title: Optical-flow-driven Gadgets for Gaming User Interface

paper_content:

We describe how to build a VIDEOPLACE-like vision-driven user interface using “optical-flow” measurements. The optical-flow denotes the estimated movement of an image patch between two consecutive frames from a video sequence. Similar framework is used in a number of commercial vision-driven interactive computer games but the motion of the users is detected by examining the difference between two consecutive frames. The optical-flow presents a natural extension. We show here how the optical-flow can be used to provide much richer interaction.
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paper_title: An object-based 3D walk-through model for interior construction progress monitoring

paper_content:

The complicated nature of interior construction works makes the detailed progress monitoring challenging. Current interior construction progress monitoring methods involve submission of periodic reports and are constrained by their reliance on manually intensive processes and limited support for recording visual information. Recent advances in image-based visualization techniques enable reporting construction progress using interactive and visual approaches. However, analyzing significant amounts of as-built construction photographs requires sophisticated techniques. To overcome limitations of existing approaches, this research focuses on visualization and computer vision techniques to monitor detailed interior construction progress using an object-based approach. As-planned 3D models from Building Information Modeling (BIM) and as-built photographs are visualized and compared in a walk-through model. Within such an environment, the as-built interior construction objects are decomposed to automatically generate the status of construction progress. This object-based approach introduces an advanced model that enables the user to have a realistic understanding of the interior construction progress.
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paper_title: 3D structural component recognition and modeling method using color and 3D data for construction progress monitoring

paper_content:

Construction progress monitoring has been recognized as one of the key elements that lead to the success of a construction project. By performing construction progress monitoring, corrective measures and other appropriate actions can be taken in a timely manner, thereby enabling the actual performance to be as close as possible to the desired outcome even if the construction performance significantly deviates from the original plan. However, current methods of data acquisition and its use in construction progress monitoring have tended to be manual and time consuming. This paper proposes an efficient, automated 3D structural component recognition and modeling method that employs color and 3D data acquired from a stereo vision system for use in construction progress monitoring. An outdoor experiment was performed on an actual construction site to demonstrate the applicability of the method to 3D modeling of such environments, and the results indicate that the proposed method can be beneficial for construction progress monitoring.
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paper_title: E-learning as a Challenge for Widening of Opportunities for Improvement of Students’ Generic Competences

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The rapidly changing economic, financial and social conditions require new knowledge and competences in order to be able to understand them, adapt to the new requirements and remain competitive and successful in the globalised social environment. Widening the access to lifelong learning is one way in which this could be achieved. A special role in this process is given to universities as promoters of lifelong learning. E-learning is a means of promoting the changes in academic studies and providing an opportunity to integrate non-formal and informal learning elements into formal education. Individualisation, learning opportunities flexible in time, as well as the e-environment can facilitate the development of students' competences. This article presents a study conducted during the implementation of an inter-university master's programme, 'Educational Treatment of Diversity' (in Spain, Latvia, Germany and the Czech Republic) in 2008-10. The research question was: which challenges for widening of opportunities were secured in e-learning in order to promote students' generic competences as a learning outcome?
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paper_title: Open Wonderland: An Extensible Virtual World Architecture

paper_content:

Open Wonderland is a toolkit for building 3D virtual worlds. The system architecture, based entirely on open standards, is highly modular and designed with a focus on extensibility. In this article, the authors articulate design goals related to collaboration, extensibility, and federation and describe the Open Wonderland architecture, including the design of the server, the client, the communications layer, and the extensibility mechanisms. They also discuss the trade-offs made in implementing the architecture.
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paper_title: Augmenting spatial skills with semi-immersive interactive desktop displays: do immersion cues matter?

paper_content:

3D stereoscopic displays for desktop use show promise for augmenting users' spatial problem solving tasks. These displays have the capacity for different types of immersion cues including binocular parallax, motion parallax, proprioception, and haptics. Such cues can be powerful tools in increasing the realism of the virtual environment by making interactions in the virtual world more similar to interactions in the real non-digital world [21, 32]. However, little work has been done to understand the effects of such immersive cues on users' understanding of the virtual environment. We present a study in which users solve spatial puzzles with a 3D stereoscopic display under different immersive conditions while we measure their brain workload using fNIRS and ask them subjective workload questions. We conclude that 1) stereoscopic display leads to lower task completion time, lower physical effort, and lower frustration; 2) vibrotactile feedback results in increased perceived immersion and in higher cognitive workload; 3) increased immersion (which combines stereo vision with vibrotactile feedback) does not result in reduced cognitive workload.
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paper_title: VRML to WebGL Web-based converter application

paper_content:

In this paper we propose a method to convert a VRML file into a WebGL rendered scene through an online application that is capable of rendering this uploaded VRML file within the Web browser itself without any plug-ins being installed. The conversion process between the input VRML file and the WebGL using our Web-based converter application is done by analyzing the uploaded VRML file content represented in nodes. These nodes are then converted into scene graph nodes used for the scene creation. A scene tree is then initialized and populated using these nodes containing their info and sent to the proposed dynamic WebGL template. Finally a new HTML5 file is constructed and displayed on the user's Web browser. An extensive set of experiments are conducted to show the performance of the online converter application.
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paper_title: Using different methodologies and technologies to training spatial skill in Engineering Graphic subjects

paper_content:

Most papers about spatial skills and their components refer to the fact that engineering, architectural and scientific jobs require a good level of spatial ability. Spatial ability has an impact on every scientific and technical field, so it's still undergoing strong development when it comes to engineering, technology, art and many other aspects of life. In the academic environment, Graphic Design teachers usually see students who have difficulties solving tasks requiring spatial reasoning and viewing abilities. The main aim of this work is the development of didactic material based on several virtual and augmented reality formats, knowing how students behave while using them, and checking if they are useful materials to improve their spatial abilities. This work present Three different technologies: virtual reality, augmented reality and portable document format to find out if they are suitable technologies together suitable methodologies to improve spatial ability and from the student's perspective, their opinion of the tool and their motivation to learn more about the aspects of 3D reality. We present a pilot study that compared the results of improvement in spatial ability acquired by freshman engineering students also a survey of satisfaction and motivation of the methodology and technology used.
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paper_title: Wayfinding and navigation in haptic virtual environments

paper_content:

Cognitive maps are mental models of the relative locations and attribute phenomena of spatial environments. The ability to form cognitive maps is one of the innate gifts of nature. An absence of this ability can have crippling effect, for example, on the visually impaired. The sense of touch becomes the primary source of forming cognitive maps for the visually impaired. Once formed, cognitive maps provide precise mapping of the physical world so that a visually impaired individual can successfully navigate with minimal assistance. However, traditional mobility training is time consuming, and it is very difficult for the blind to express or revisit the cognitive maps formed after a training session is over. The proposed haptic environment will allow the visually impaired individual to express cognitive maps as 3D surface maps, with two PHANToM force-feedback devices guiding them. The 3D representation can be finetuned by the care-giver, and then felt again by the visually impaired in order to form precise cognitive maps. In addition to voice commentary, a library of pre-existing shapes familiar to the blind will provide orientation and proprioceptive haptic-cues during navigation. A graphical display of cognitive maps will provide feedback to the care-giver or trainer. As the haptic environment can be easily stored and retrieved, the MoVE system will also encourage navigation by the blind at their own convenience, and with family members.
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paper_title: Virtual/real transfer in a large-scale environment: impact of active navigation as a function of the viewpoint displacement effect and recall tasks

paper_content:

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of navigation mode (passive versus active) on the virtual/real transfer of spatial learning, according to viewpoint displacement (ground: 1m 75 versus aerial: 4m) and as a function of the recall tasks used. We hypothesize that active navigation during learning can enhance performances when route strategy is favored by egocentric match between learning (ground-level viewpoint) and recall (egocentric frame-based tasks). Sixty-four subjects (32 men and 32 women) participated in the experiment. Spatial learning consisted of route learning in a virtual district (four conditions: passive/ground, passive/aerial, active/ground, or active/aerial), evaluated by three tasks: wayfinding, sketch-mapping, and picture-sorting. In the wayfinding task, subjects who were assigned the ground-level viewpoint in the virtual environment (VE) performed better than those with the aerial-level viewpoint, especially in combination with active navigation. In the sketch-mapping task, aerial-level learning in the VE resulted in better performance than the ground-level condition, while active navigation was only beneficial in the ground-level condition. The best performance in the picture-sorting task was obtained with the ground-level viewpoint, especially with active navigation. This study confirmed the expected results that the benefit of active navigation was linked with egocentric frame-based situations.
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paper_title: Evaluation of the Cognitive Effects of Travel Technique in Complex Real and Virtual Environments

paper_content:

We report a series of experiments conducted to investigate the effects of travel technique on information gathering and cognition in complex virtual environments. In the first experiment, participants completed a non-branching multilevel 3D maze at their own pace using either real walking or one of two virtual travel techniques. In the second experiment, we constructed a real-world maze with branching pathways and modeled an identical virtual environment. Participants explored either the real or virtual maze for a predetermined amount of time using real walking or a virtual travel technique. Our results across experiments suggest that for complex environments requiring a large number of turns, virtual travel is an acceptable substitute for real walking if the goal of the application involves learning or reasoning based on information presented in the virtual world. However, for applications that require fast, efficient navigation or travel that closely resembles real-world behavior, real walking has advantages over common joystick-based virtual travel techniques.
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paper_title: The impact of motion in virtual environments on memorization performance

paper_content:

Virtual environments are more and more used for educational and training purposes. In order to design virtual environments for these applications in particular, it is very important to get a deep understanding of the relevant design features supporting the user's process of learning and comprehension. Relevance and implementation of these features as well as the benefits of virtual learning environments over traditional educational approaches in general are rarely explored. Focusing on modes of interaction in this work, we examined the effect of different motion types on the knowledge acquisition of users in various virtual environments. For our study we chose a simple memorization task as approximation of low cognitive knowledge acquirement. We hypothesized motion types and immersion levels influence memorization performance in virtual environments. The memorization task was conducted in two virtual environments with different levels of immersion: A high-immersive Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) and a low-immersive desktop virtual environment. Two motion types in virtual environments were explored: Physical and virtual walking. In the CAVE physical walking was implemented by using motion capturing and virtual walking was realized using a joystick-like input device. The results indicate neither motion types nor immersion levels in virtual environments affect memorization performance significantly.
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paper_title: An evaluation of techniques for grabbing and manipulating remote objects in immersive virtual environments

paper_content:

Grabbing and manipulating virtual objects is an important user interaction for immersive virtual environments. We present implementations and discussion of six techniques which allow manipulation of remote objects. A user study of these techniques was performed which revealed their characteristics and deficiencies, and led to the development of a new class of techniques. These hybrid techniques provide distinct advantages in terms of ease of use and efficiency because they consider the tasks of grabbing and manipulation separately. CR Categories and Subject Descriptors: 1.3.7 [Computer Graphics] :Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism - Virtual Reality; 1.3.6 [Computer Graphics]:Methodology and Techniques - Interaction Techniques.
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Title: Environments and System Types of Virtual Reality Technology in STEM: a Survey

Section 1: INTRODUCTION
Description 1: This section introduces the need for using VR technology in STEM fields and outlines the overall structure of the paper.

Section 2: CONCEPTS OF VIRTUAL REALITY
Description 2: This section provides various definitions and fundamental concepts of Virtual Reality (VR).

Section 3: EMERGENCE OF VR TECHNOLOGY
Description 3: This section discusses the historical development and milestones in VR technology, including key inventions and advancements.

Section 4: APPLICATIONS OF VR
Description 4: This section explores the different applications of VR technology across various fields such as medicine, education, entertainment, engineering, and more.

Section 5: THE VR REQUIREMENTS
Description 5: This section describes the necessary requirements and considerations for developing effective VR environments.

Section 6: ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF VR
Description 6: This section highlights the four basic elements essential to VR systems as determined by research.

Section 7: TYPES OF VR SYSTEMS AND HARDWARE
Description 7: This section discusses the different types of VR systems, categorized by their level of immersion, and the hardware used for each type.

Section 8: VR SOFTWARE AND TOOLS
Description 8: This section reviews various software and tools available for creating and utilizing VR environments.

Section 9: NAVIGATION IN VR ENVIRONMENT
Description 9: This section explains the importance of navigation in VR and its components for usability and interaction.

Section 10: BENEFITS AND LIMITATION OF VR
Description 10: This section mentions the advantages and limitations of VR technology in different applications.

Section 11: ROAD OF THE MAP FOR SELECTING APPROPRIATE VR SYSTEM ACCORDING TO THE FIELD OF APPLICATIONS
Description 11: This section provides a roadmap for selecting the proper VR system based on the application field and criteria.

Section 12: CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS
Description 12: This section wraps up the survey, summarizing the importance of VR technology and suggesting directions for future research.