<p dir="ltr">The present condition of US infrastructure requires a data-driven, risk-based approach to asset management. In the case of bridges, inspectors in every state visit these structures, collect data, and based on the information they report, departments of transportation evaluate bridge conditions, predict deterioration, and make repair and retrofit decisions. However, current inspection practices are manual and subjective, which could result in inaccurate assessments, with a significant impact on the allocation of economic resources and work schedules oriented to the maintenance and operations bridges. Furthermore, the capacity of inspectors for defect or deficiency detection might be inconsistent due to several cognitive and physical factors, such as the inspectors’ experience or eyesight.</p><p dir="ltr">This thesis describes the development of a Virtual Reality (VR) application supported by advanced computer graphics where the users are engaged in immersive, photo-realistic 3D environments. It provides a testbed to study the variability among bridge inspectors. The outcome will provide statistical information that will be used to enhance the current inspection practices.</p><p dir="ltr">With the use of VR technology, current limitations of inspection evaluation, such as multiple districts and different types of structures, logistics of people and equipment, and weather conditions, are addressed. Besides improving inspection training, time and cost savings are expected, along with safer conditions and innovative training tools. The final product is a state-of-the-art VR set-up with testing models of concrete and steel bridges under controlled conditions that are open to assessing other needs in the future. The system runs on a high-resolution tethered headset supported by a gaming laptop to ease portability across Indiana districts.</p><p dir="ltr">The VR-based application comprises two bridge modules: one for a steel truss bridge and one for a multi-girder concrete bridge. The 3D bridge models are synthetically recreated using reference images from two case studies. Through constant feedback and multiple demonstration sessions with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) bridge inspectors, the bridge components, the defects and their severity, and the inspection tools to be modeled are defined. Nine types of defects are modeled, including efflorescence, cracking, corrosion, spalling, and delamination. Eight inspection tools are also recreated in the VR scene, such as chain drag, hammer, scratch brush, flashlight, and tape measure.</p><p dir="ltr">After completing the inspection in the VR scene, users are required to fill out an online survey, one for each bridge. Condition rating numbers and comments on the state of the deck, superstructure, and substructure are requested. Besides, factors such as years of experience and work location are asked to ascertain inconsistency patterns when compared with the rating numbers. The VR application also offers the possibility of taking screenshots that inspectors can later attach to their surveys to complement their reports. Statistical analysis, including pie charts and histograms, is automatically generated, giving a multi-faceted approach to consistency evaluation among inspectors.</p>

In their opinion article, “The Ethics of Realism in Virtual and Augmented Reality,” Slater et al. (2020) raised awareness on themanifold ethical issues arising fromXR developing into a ubiquitous and daily used technology. The article of Slater et al. is true in every aspect. However, there was one further aspect missing, which will likely play a very important role when XR is no longer contained in laboratories and professional applications but a daily used technology: the ubiquitousness of drugs and their influence on perception and cognition in relation to XR.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that has grown in popularity within recent years. Not only is it widely used as a gaming entertainment but now the use of the technology is increasing in other areas. VR within school is still a relatively new phenomenon. This report examines the advantages and disadvantages of VR in education and in what contexts it is appropriate to implement. To answer the report’s questions, semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and initiators who work with VR in Swedish schools. All respondents are working on different projects in varying age groups, this report focuses on elementary school and high school. The results show that all teachers and initiators that were interviewed are positive about the use of VR in education. The advantages are many. VR provides educational support for students with learning difficulties and disabilities; the improved memory experience is also mentioned which confirms the results of previous studies. The respondents also believe that VR is suitable for all types of lessons.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a growing frontier of immersive consumable content. It provides an additional layer of immersion, namely presence, which can be described as the feeling of being somewhere, in this case, inside a virtual environment, thus accepting it as real. We utilise existing game design, VR, and perception models and theories to create prototypes that test the effect of realism in the representation of the player avatar on the felt presence in VR. We consider the concepts of “game feel”, “presence”, “scales of realism” and the “Uncanny Valley” theory when building the framework for this study. Furthermore, we create three prototypes with increasing levels of visual polish and three test groups (N = 36 adults) are made to play through one of the prototypes each. Galvanic skin response (GSR) is used to measure arousal response, a measure used to quantify degrees of presence. Participants are instructed to interact with two stimuli that share the same behaviours, first a virtual toy car and then a virtual spider. The instructions for the interactions with each stimulus are identical. Results from t-tests and linear mixed-effects modelling (LMM) show indications of effectiveness of increased player avatar visual polish on producing higher arousal response readings, suggesting an increased sense of presence. Additionally, some behavioural patterns that emerged suggest a heightened sense of embodiment. We argue that the findings validate the implementation of higher visual fidelity in player avatars, in pursuit of impacting a subject’s level of arousal when exposed to a virtual spider. This has implications for game designers, psychotherapists, and researchers who aim to use VR to induce an immersive state in individuals. / Virtuell verklighet (engelska: “Virtual Reality”) är ett växande område av konsumerbara innehåll som medverkar till att användaren ska kunna försvinna bort i en artificiell verklighet. Den engelska termen “immersion” är välanvänd inom speldesign och syftar inom denna kontext på ett uppslukande av användarens uppmärksamhet när de interagerar med ett datorspel. Virtuell verklighet bidrar med ytterligare ett lager av “immersion” nämligen genom närvaro (engelska: “Presence”). Närvaro hänvisar till känslan att befinna sig på en viss plats, i detta fall i en virtuell miljö. Vi har nyttjat sedan tidigare kända modeller och teorier relaterade till speldesign, virtuell verklighet och kognitiva förmågor som utgångspunkt för att utveckla tre prototyper. Målet med dessa prototyper är att testa vilken effekt en mer realistisk representation av en användares virtuella kropp (engelska: “Player Avatar”) kan ha på den upplevda närvaron i en virtuell verklighet. De tre prototyperna har avsikten att öka den visuella detaljrikedomen (engelska: “Polish”) på en skala från en abstrakt representation av en mänsklig kropp till en mer realistisk och faktisk representation. Deltagande i experimenten bestod av N = 36 vuxna individer, uppdelade i tre testgrupper. Vi använder galvanisk hudrespons (“GSR”) för att mäta fysiologiska responser, vars data vi använder för att kvantifiera olika grader av närvaro. Deltagarna är instruerade att interagera med två olika stimuli, som innehar samma beteendemönster, först en virtuell leksaksbil och sedan en virtuell spindel. Resultaten från t-testerna och de linjära modellerna med blandade effekter (engelska: “Linear Mixed-Effect Modelling” eller “LMM”) gav indikationer på att en högre visuell trofasthet av deltagarens virtuella kropp resulterade i en större fysiologisk respons vilket kan tolkas som att deltagarna upplevde en större närvaro. Vidare upptäcktes vissa upprepade beteendemönster som kan tolkas som indicier på att deltagarna upplevde en högre nivå av förkroppsligande i korrelation till de mer visuellt imponerande prototyperna. Vi lägger fram argumentet att fynden i denna studie validerar implementationen av en högre visuell trofasthet i spelarnas virtuella kroppar med syftet att påverka deltagarens fysiologiska respons när de exponeras för en virtuell spindel. Detta har implikationer för speldesigners, psykoterapeuter och forskare som eftersträvar att inducera ett sorts uppslukande tillstånd bland individer.

What happens when we see an object of a certain material but the sounds that it makes comes from another material? Whilst it is an interesting question, it is an area that is under researched. Though there has been some previous research in the field the visuals have been represented using textures on simple shapes like cubes or spheres. Since this is not how humans experience materials in the real world there is a possibility that the research that has been done is not generalizable or ecologically valid. We wanted to see what would happen if this type of test was performed using 3D models that looked like real-life objects that most people would be familiar with. In order to test this, we gathered impact sounds and 3D models to represent nine different materials and created a program in virtual reality that allowed us to test all the possible combinations of sounds and visuals. These tests were performed with 15 participants who selected which material they believed each audiovisual combination represented. Our results showed a higher tendency to rely on audio cues for material perception compared to previous tests. This is interesting since we increased the visual fidelity while the quality of the audio was comparable to the previous tests. One theory is that the increase in visual fidelity makes the visuals so much clearer that participants started focusing more on trying to understand the audio. / Vad händer när vi ser ett föremål av ett visst material men ljuden som det gör kommer från ett annat material? Även om det är en intressant fråga, är det ett område som är underforskat. Även om det har gjorts en del tidigare forskning på området har det visuella representerats med hjälp av texturer på enkla former som kuber eller sfärer. Eftersom det inte är så människor upplever material i den verkliga världen finns det en möjlighet att den forskning som har gjorts inte är generaliserbar eller ekologiskt giltig. Vi ville se vad som skulle hända om den här typen av test utfördes med 3Dmodeller som såg ut som verkliga objekt som de flesta skulle känna till. För att testa detta samlade vi in ljud från kollisioner och 3Dmodeller för att representera nio olika material och skapade ett program i virtuell verklighet som gjorde att vi kunde testa alla möjliga kombinationer av ljud och bild. Dessa tester utfördes med 15 deltagare som valde vilket material de trodde att varje audiovisuell kombination representerade. Våra resultat visade en högre tendens att förlita sig på ljudet för uppfattning av materialet jämfört med tidigare tester. Detta är intressant eftersom vi ökade den visuella detaljrikedomen medan ljudets kvalité var jämförbart med de tidigare testerna. En teori är att ökningen av visuell detaljrikedom gör det visuella så mycket tydligare att deltagarna började fokusera mer på att försöka förstå ljudet.

Virtual reality, VR, has become more popular in the last decade thanks to the rapid development of the technology, and thanks to becoming more accessible. One of the demands that users have is that the VR experience should be immersive, which means that the computer-generated world should be perceived as if it was real. This is achieved by taking all senses into account. In addition to the visual impression, the sound is essential and contributes information to the user. When locating audio sources, a three-dimensional sound image is necessary. A part of the localization includes estimating the distance to the audio source. Our perception of distance is based upon two impressions, the volume and the relationship between direct and diffuse sound. The direct sound is the sound that reaches the listener directly, and the diffuse sound is the sound that arrives at the listener after being reflected against the surroundings [4]. This study aims to explore how the relationship between direct and diffuse sound affects the perception of distance to audio sources in VR. The study consisted of two phases: A design phase for building the test environment and a test phase where physical tests were conducted. The test environment was built in Unity and consisted of four scenes, two of which were for educational purposes and two for test purposes. It was also analyzed whether any previous experience of VR or playing an instrument affected the result. No evident trends could be seen in the results, and therefore no conclusions could be drawn from the study. Noticeable from the data was that the answers became more extreme when the reverberation was increased. And that the answers were more evenly distributed when the reverberation was reduced. It was also noted that the reverberation affected the participants' perception of space more than the perception of distance. The most prominent reasons for the vague result are believed to be that the study group was too small and that the test was too difficult. Another factor that impacted the result was the software used. Although no conclusions could be drawn from this study, it will continue to be interesting to investigate further what can affect the perception of distance in VR. / Virtuell verklighet, VR, har blivit mer och mer populärt under det senaste årtiondet tack vare att tekniken utvecklats och tack vare att den har blivit mer tillgänglig. Ett av de största kraven som användarna ställer på VR-upplevelsen är att den ska vara omslutande, vilket innebär att den datorgenererade världen ska uppfattas som om den var verklig. För att det ska uppnås måste alla sinnen tas i beaktning. Förutom synintrycket, är ljudupplevelsen ett viktigt stimuli som bidrar med information till användaren. För att kunna lokalisera ljudkällor är en tredimensionell ljudbild nödvändig. En del av lokaliseringen innefattar att uppskatta avståndet till ljudkällan. Vår avståndsuppfattning bygger på två intryck, ljudstyrkan och förhållandet mellan direkt och diffust ljud. Det direkta ljudet är det ljud som når lyssnaren direkt och det diffusa ljudet är det som når lyssnaren efter att ha reflekterats mot omgivningen [4]. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur förhållandet mellan direkt och diffust ljud påverkar avståndsuppfattningen till ljudkällor i VR. Studien har bestått av två faser: En designfas där testmiljön byggdes, och en testfas där det utfördes fysiska tester på deltagarna. Testmiljön byggdes i Unity och bestod av fyra scener, varav två var i utbildande syfte och de andra två utgjorde testet. Det analyserades även om tidigare erfarenhet av VR eller instrumentspelande hade någon påverkan på resultatet. Det gick inte att se några tydliga trender i resultatet och därav kan inga slutsatser dras av undersökningen. Det mest utmärkande i datan var att svaren blev mer extrema vid ökad efterklang och mer jämt fördelade vid minskad efterklang. Det noterades att efterklangen påverkade deltagarnas rumsuppfattning mer än uppfattningen om avståndet till ljudkällan. De mest framträdande anledningarna till det vaga resultatet tros vara att studiegruppen var för liten och att testet var för svårt. Den använda programvaran har även haft påverkan på utfallet. Trots att inga slutsatser kunde dras så är det fortsatt intressant att undersöka vad som kan påverka avståndsuppfattningen i VR.

Genom åren har intresset för och satsningar på underhållning i tredimensionellt format (3D) gått i vågor. Idag har de flesta biografer stöd för att visa 3D-filmer. Utöver detta intresse har det på senare år även börjat komma mer teknik för 3D i hemmet. Det har också introducerats många nya mer immersiva och intuitiva inmatnings-enheter som bidrar till under-hållning med element av virtual reality hemma. Företagen Sony, Nintendo och Microsoft har alla lanserat olika typer av avancerade tekniker för sådana inmatnings-enheter till sina spel-system. Dessa tekniker bidrar på olika sätt till mer immersiv underhållning. På de sätt som många av teknikerna används idag blir däremot interaktionen fortfarande hämmad av att dessa kräver att man står, respektive tittar, i en viss riktning.Rapporten återger en experimentell studie som tar sikte på att undersöka om det är möjligt att med kommersiellt tillgänliga medel skapa immersiv virtual reality som är portabel och buren – för underhållning i hemmet. Inledningsvis redogörs kortfattat för människans upp-fattning av djup samt hur olika 3D-displayer fungerar. Härefter kommer vi in på virtual reality och betydelsen av en hög nivå av immersion i detta sammanhang. Beträffande virtual reality kommer däremot utgångspunkten vara mer teoretisk, för att ge en bild av åt vilket håll utvecklingen går. Denna del går därmed längre än vad experimentet omfattar, eftersom denna teori inte ännu fullt ut omsatts i praktiken. Hypotesen för experimentet är att tekniken ”head tracking”, i form av en huvudburen rörelsedetektor som känner av huvudets orientering, till viss del kan vara en lösning på problemet med immersion – eftersom jag som användare då inte är hänvisad till en viss plats. Slutligen analyseras såväl teori som experiment och man kommer fram till att VRD är en möjlig lovande framtida teknik. Hypotesen bekräftas till viss del och rapporten mynnar ut i en slutreflektion där det konstateras att teknik för att skapa ökad immersion och VR hemma finns tillgänglig – även om en del ytterligare arbete för datahantering skulle krävas för att optimera denna. / Through the years, interest in and focus on entertainment in three dimensional form (3D) has gone in waves. Today, most cinemas have support for showing 3D-movies. In addition to this interest, an increasing amount of technology for 3D at home has become available in recent years. A number of different new, more immersive and intuitive input devices with elements of virtual reality for home use, have also been introduced. The companies Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft have all launched various types of such advanced input technology for their game consoles. These techniques contribute in various ways to more immersive entertain-ment. In the way many of these technical solutions are used today, they are still limited by the requirement of standing and looking in a specific direction. The report reflects an experimental study that aims to explore the feasibility of using commercially obtainable material to create immersive virtual reality for home entertainment, which is portable and wearable. Initially it explains the basics of human depth perception, and how different 3D displays work. Hereafter, we will look at virtual reality and the im-portance of a high level of immersion in this context. In regards to virtual reality however, the starting point will be of a more theoretical nature, to give an idea of in which direction the development is heading. This part thereby goes further than what the experiment covers, because of this theory not yet beeing fully applied in practice. The hypothesis for the experiment is that the technology "head tracking", in the form of a head-mounted motion-sensor that detects the orientation of the head, in part, may be a solution to the problem of immersion – as the user isn’t dependant on a specific location.Finally an analysis of both theory and experiment is made in which it is concluded that VRD might be a promissing future technology. The hypothesis is partially confirmed and the report culminates in a final reflection where it is found that technology for creating a higher level of immersion and VR at home is available – even though some additional work with data handling would be required.

Yes / Online retailers are increasingly using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies to solve mental and physical intangibility issues in a product evaluation. Moreover, the technologies are easily available and accessible to consumers via their smartphones. The authors conducted three experiments to examine consumer responses to technology interfaces (AR/VR and mobile apps) for hedonic and utilitarian products. The results show that AR is easier to use (vs. app), and users find AR more responsive when buying a hedonic (vs. utilitarian) product. Touch interface users are likely to have a more satisfying experience and greater recommendation intentions, as compared to AR, for buying utilitarian products. In contrast, a multisensory environment (AR) results in a better user experience for purchasing a hedonic product. Moreover, multisensory technologies lead to higher visual appeal, emotional appeal, and purchase intentions. The research contributes to the literature on computer-mediated interactions in a multisensory environment and proposes actionable recommendations to online marketers.

This study has investigated navigation strategies and spatial memory in Euclidean versus non-Euclidean environments. It also had a focus on mental maps, homing abilities and past video game experiences. Two test groups traversed mazes with identical layouts, but in which the non-Euclidean version incorporated wormholes that teleported participants in an, to the participant, unobvious manner. Data such as distances, time taken, and individual routes was collected. A thematic survey regarding strategies and tests for deeming what kind of mental map the participants used were also employed. Shapiro-Wilk tests, QQ-plots, PCA, Boxplots, T-tests, Heatmaps and Mann-Whitney U tests were used depending on the suitable data. Results showed that there were no significant differences between the two test groups in terms of quantifiable data and overall strategies used, while still there were signs of better performance for both groups in some certain respects. At the look on the groups as a whole, the participants that were deemed to use cognitive topological graphs, rather than cognitive Euclidean maps, were more successful in achieving the objectives. The results imply that areas like game design can be pushed further when it comes to using abstract or non-conventional spaces created by wormholes, without having a negative effect on the players navigational abilities. The results are also consistent with prior research in the field of psychology that refers to people using both maps and graphs as a cognitive representation of space.

Across industries, Computer-aided design (CAD) programs are used to create vehicle parts. Simultaneously, virtual reality (VR) has become more common. Can these two co-existing technologies benefit one another? This thesis investigates how CAD modeling can be enhanced with the help of VR. Specifically, it focuses on importing CAD models during the runtime of a VR application, visualizing those models in real size. An additional feature includes the ability to interact with the imported CAD models, enabling assembly simulations. This thesis specifically explores how parts of electric autonomous trucks can be assembled in VR.  The results are moderately satisfying, with users expressing both satisfaction and dissatisfaction with certain aspects of VR as a tool in this context. However, only two users evaluated the application, indicating the need for a more extensive evaluation. / I flera industrier är CAD-program vanliga för att modellera delar till fordon. Samtidigt växer virtual reality (VR) fram och blir allt vanligare. Kan dessa två teknologier samexistera och dra nytta av varandra? Det här arbetet undersöker om CAD-modellering kan dra fördel av VR som ett verktyg för visualisering. En av de mer unika aspekterna av detta arbete är hur import av CAD-modeller under körtid  hanteras. En annan funktionalitet som undersöks är möjligheten att interagera med de importerade CAD-modellerna, vilket också öppnar för möjligheter att simulera monteringsprocesser. Resultatet var någorlunda tillfredsställande enligt intressenterna som utvärderade den slutgiltiga VR-applikationen. Det fanns aspekter som inte var helt tillfredsställande samtidigt som det fanns delar som var bra. Det ska beaktas att det endast var två intressenter som utvärderade den slutgiltiga applikationen, vilket indikerar att det behövs mer utvärdering för att fastställa ett gediget resultat.