Thiel, Felix J.;
(2024)
Helping Hands - Improving the Accessibility of Virtual Reality through Co-Piloting.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that has gained in popularity over the recent years. While other applications of it are also being explored, it is currently most used for immersive video games. However, playing VR games with an impairment can be challenging because the system design makes implicit assumptions about the abilities of the ideal player. Its design assumes that players are not only able-bodied but also that they are willing to stand and move around while using the system. Players who cannot conform to these assumptions are excluded from the experience. Since playing games has not only a recreational benefit but is also important for social life, this exclusion is highly problematic. In this thesis, we approach two different problems that may arise when playing VR games with impairments. The first problem is that no rating model exists that captures the physical requirements of VR games. We address this with an accessibility metric that is calculated from captured motion data and we verified the metric with a user study. The second problem is that impaired players will struggle with reach. Having only limited use of the upper limbs or the need to sit down will leave the player with a much shorter reach than the game designer intended. We approached this with a novel assistive technique called Co-Piloting where a second human player with additional controls can take partial control of the virtual limbs of the original player and augment their movement. We have performed a small survey to gather feedback on the concept and another larger study to compare its performance with other reach extension techniques.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Helping Hands - Improving the Accessibility of Virtual Reality through Co-Piloting |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10201698 |
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