VR-Projects

Another VR project was War Environment. The project course required building an XR experience that would induce either positive or negative emotions in the user. After several rounds of brainstorming, I chose to create a negative wartime experience in VR. The aim was to convey a critique of war and prompt reflection by depicting the grim reality of trench warfare. The application implements a range of design guidelines and mechanics intended to induce negative emotions, and it was evaluated in a small qualitative lab study.

You can watch the resulting project in the video below.

Physical flight simulators play a central role in today's pilot training, but they come with drawbacks, which is why virtual reality (VR) simulators are seen as a promising complement or alternative. This project grew out of a collaboration between Airbus and the University of Würzburg to investigate the applicability of VR simulations. For VR simulators to be validated, their perceptual and performance parameters need to be at least as good as those of physical simulators.

In the study, participants landed an Airbus A320 in a VR simulator under both stress-free and stress-induced conditions. The results show that the stress-inducing scenario produced stress as intended and was associated with a higher perceived mental workload. The study offers promising initial insights into the use of VR simulators, though further research is needed for full validation. Natural next steps are a direct comparison of the two systems and testing with participants who have real flight experience.