Experts design virtual Covid awareness experience for kids
TWO virtual reality ( VR) experts from Co Wexford are part of a WIT Augmented Reality team who have combined visual and kinaesthetic learning tools to raise awareness of Covid-19 in children.
Aimed at children aged eight and up, this interactive experience is also ASD friendly and can be used as a tool to educate children in a fun and engaging environment. Using HSE Covid-19 safety guidelines, the informative and interactive experience designed at the TSSG Technology Gateway department demonstrates how to effectively wash hands using a sequence of cards and how to successfully practice social distancing in a supermarket or retail environment.
New Ross man Ian Mills, who studied MSc in Computing Communications Software in WIT, is ARVR Technical Lead. He has led the team in creating this experience to promote the research capabilities of the unit.
Wexford town man Stephen Barnes is an experienced research software developer specialising in the use of virtual reality to assist learning in children with ASD and assisted in the development of the VR experience.
The informative experience they helped create is just one of many projects the AR/VR team in TSSG are developing explains Mills.
Ian said: ‘We are very excited to return to the office and finalise the Mixed Reality Lab as it will open up new possibilities for cutting-edge research across a number of domains such as health and education.’
The ARVR team were successful in an Enterprise Ireland funding call last year to develop a Mixed Reality Lab in TSSG however, due to COVID-19, the finishing touches have been put on hold. Rather than allow the new equipment to go unused, the team utilised the materials in their respective homes and came together online to create this learning tool.
The equipment in the Mixed Reality Lab will be used to advance research in current research projects including the benefits of virtual reality for people with ASD; how virtual reality experiences can give more accurate results in consumer experiences; how virtual reality can improve learning and development training in companies and the use of augmented reality in retail and tourism to enhance customers experience. The latter two are becoming more relevant in the current pandemic.
Technology Gateway Manager Miguel Ponce de Leon is inviting companies who might have a concept, prototype or product to contact TSSG about further development and testing in the lab.
‘We have been approached by a number of companies in the past who need access to specialised equipment for testing and validation, but the facilities just didn’t exist. We are delighted that our mixed reality lab will be available to companies of all sizes to access and reap the benefits of the equipment when it is safe to do so.’
To access this virtual experience users require an Oculus Quest with Oculus Touch controllers, which are available online. You can download the VR experience from SideQuest.
For more information on this experience or to learn more about how our ARVR team can assist your company develop an augmented or virtual reality experience contact Miguel Ponce de Leon, Technology Gateway Manager, miguelpdl@tssg.org.