Project description
Innovative tool for measuring presence in virtual environments
Presence refers to the sensation of being in a virtual environment, and its significance lies in determining the efficacy of virtual reality (VR) applications. Measuring presence accurately is necessary to develop immersive solutions for healthcare, training, entertainment, and research purposes. Recent advancements in VR technology have made measuring presence even more relevant. The ERC-funded PRESENCE project aims to develop a tool that measures and analyses presence by combining two methodologies: analysing visual working memory and body movement patterns. The project will refine the tool with real-life data and engage policymakers and interest groups in promoting standardisation in the VR industry. The findings are expected to enable the commercialisation of the software.
Objective
Presence is the feeling of being in a virtual environment. It is the concept that provides the most explanatory value to the degree of effectiveness of virtual reality applications. This concept has received an increase in relevancy due to the recent evolution of virtual reality (VR) technology and an increase in attention from the scientific community. Developing new immersive solutions to aid in healthcare, training, entertainment, and research hinges on the ability to objectively measure presence so that the quality of these applications can improve significantly. We aim to develop a tool for measuring and analyzing presence by combining two methodologies developed in the Attention Lab at Utrecht University. The methodologies utilize psychophysiological approaches to measure the internal state of the user through analyzing visual working memory and body movement patterns. Together with our industry partner EducationXR, we then plan on iterating on the tool by using real-life data and integrating the method into our partner's available analytics suite to identify how we can improve usability and compatibility. With the learnings from our work with EducationXR and our experience in transferring validated research into services and applications in the area of clinical assessment and rehabilitation, we plan to found a startup company to sell the tool we developed in the form of a software product. By working together with policymakers and interest groups, we plan to actively work on promoting standardization in the VR industry while marketing our tool as a way to achieve a higher quality user experience. Through this process, we hope to improve the VR infrastructure in the VR industry as well as in related industries. With the ability to produce more impactful solutions that contribute positively to society through education, healthcare, and research, we hope that VR can have a positive impact and lead to novel innovation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinephysiotherapy
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept GrantsHost institution
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands