This study examined the effects of simulator sickness (SS) as a function of the visual complexity... more This study examined the effects of simulator sickness (SS) as a function of the visual complexity of animated virtual actors (AVAs) and the virtual environment (VE) in a virtual scene. Visually complex stimuli may be attractive; however, studies on SS indicate the possibility of significant health risks outweighing the expected benefit in virtual reality (VR) simulations. This study used a series of simulations to teach the basic skills required for village fire fighting to manage fires caused by car accidents. The participants learnt in one of 4 experimental conditions; simple (simple AVAs and simple VE), simple world (lifelike AVAs and simple VE), simple AVAs (simple AVAs and lifelike VE) and lifelike (lifelike AVAs and lifelike VE). We predicted that: (1) SS ratings would increase with the scenes’ visual complexity and (2) simpler VEs would compensate for the effects of visually complex AVAs. Surprisingly, the results contradicted our predictions, with no effect of either variabl...
Proceedings of 11th Conference on Agent and Multiagent Systems, 2012
We have developed the virtual world of Omosa in which school students can learn what scientists d... more We have developed the virtual world of Omosa in which school students can learn what scientists do by doing it themselves. In Omosa students are able to observe, collect data and interact with a number of intelligent virtual human and animal agents.
This paper presents the intelligent virtual animals that inhabit Omosa, a virtual learning enviro... more This paper presents the intelligent virtual animals that inhabit Omosa, a virtual learning environment to help secondary school students learn how to conduct scientific inquiry and gain concepts from biology. Omosa supports multiple agents, including animals, plants, and human hunters, which live in groups of varying sizes and in a predator-prey relationship with other agent types (species). In this paper we present our generic agent architecture and the algorithms that drive all animals. We concentrate on two of our animals to present how different parameter values affect their movements and inter/intra-group interactions. Two evaluations studies are included: one to demonstrate the effect of different components of our architecture; another to provide domain expert validation of the animal behavior.
This study examined the effects of simulator sickness (SS) as a function of the visual complexity... more This study examined the effects of simulator sickness (SS) as a function of the visual complexity of animated virtual actors (AVAs) and the virtual environment (VE) in a virtual scene. Visually complex stimuli may be attractive; however, studies on SS indicate the possibility of significant health risks outweighing the expected benefit in virtual reality (VR) simulations. This study used a series of simulations to teach the basic skills required for village fire fighting to manage fires caused by car accidents. The participants learnt in one of 4 experimental conditions;
The Virtual Mars Yard (VMY) is a simulation system for Internet-based Science, Technology, Engine... more The Virtual Mars Yard (VMY) is a simulation system for Internet-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. It closely mimics the Internetbased teleoperation of Experimental Mars Rover (EMR)-Mawson, a six-wheeled robotic platform with a teleoperable sensor payload being operated at the Mars Yard at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. The VMY offers a realistic kinematic and physics-based dynamic model interacting with an accurate virtual Mars Yard terrain model. It also provides users with a similar graphical user interface to the real teleoperation system. The VMY allows students to practice driving the EMR-Mawson in the virtual environment and learn how the interface works. Potential teleoperation system users can also enhance and test their skills before using the real system at the Mars Yard, with the potential of reducing the risk of damaging the actual system, for long-term operation in STEM education. This paper presents the architecture and applications of the VMY.
The development of scientific inquiry skills is a core element of the draft national science curr... more The development of scientific inquiry skills is a core element of the draft national science curriculum for Australian secondary school students. Yet, despite the prominence of inquiry learning in the curriculum, the use of integrated classroom technology to facilitate inquiry learning is difficult for teachers to implement successfully without support in Australian secondary schools. The purpose of the Virtual Worlds project, which commenced this year, is to conduct learning and cognitive sciences-based research into the potential of scenario-based Multi-User Virtual Environment systems to promote, and perhaps enhance, secondary school learning experiences. In this paper we consider a number of existing science education-based multi-user virtual environments and introduce our project including our goals, approach and scenario underpinning the virtual world.
As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Realit... more As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications become increasingly rich and complex. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) suggests that complex visual materials could hinder novice learners from attending to the lesson properly. On the other hand, previous studies have shown that visual complexity correlates with presence and may increase the perceived affective quality of the virtual world, towards an optimal experience or flow. Increasing these in VR applications may promote enjoyment and higher cognitive engagement for better learning outcomes. While visually complex materials could be motivating and pleasing to attend to, would they affect learning adversely? We developed a series of VR presentations to teach second-year psychology students about the navigational behaviour of Cataglyphis ants with flat, cartoon, or lifelike AVAs. To assess learning outcomes, we used Program Ratings, which measured perception of learning and perceived difficulty, and retention and transfer tests. The results from 200 students did not reveal any significant differences in presence, perceived affective quality, or learning outcomes as a function of the AVA's visual complexity. While the results showed positive correlations between presence, perceived affective quality and perception of learning, none of these correlates with perceived difficulty, retention, or transfer scores. Nevertheless, our simulation produced significant improvements on retention and transfer scores in all conditions. We discuss possible explanations and future research directions.
This article discusses the effects of Animated Virtual Actors' (AVAs) visual complexity on Simula... more This article discusses the effects of Animated Virtual Actors' (AVAs) visual complexity on Simulator Sickness (SS) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications. SS is one of the major disadvantages of VR simulations. Previous research has shown that visual complexity correlates with SS. Yet complex AVAs are increasingly used along with real-time graphics. Minimising SS for a VR application is thus beneficial. A series of VR simulations were created to teach second-year psychology students about the navigational capabilities of desert ants with different levels of AVA's visual complexity: flat, cartoon, or lifelike. We predicted that more complex AVAs would induce more SS. The results contradicted the predictions, with no significant differences in SS between groups as a function of the AVAs visual complexity. Moreover, our methods succeeded in low overall levels of SS in all the simulations. Possible explanations and our future research directions are discussed.
In this paper, we discuss our experimental results on Simulator Sickness (SS). A series of experi... more In this paper, we discuss our experimental results on Simulator Sickness (SS). A series of experiments were conducted in our Virtual Reality (VR) Lab. Our aim was to investigate the correlations between the perception of depth and the feeling of discomfort, as well as the role of gameplay regarding the familiarity of the viewer with computer games in the feeling of discomfort. Participants were immersed in two different stereoscopic landscapes projected on a semi-cylindrical screen.
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the use of multi-agent systems to develop virtual reali... more The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the use of multi-agent systems to develop virtual reality training systems. We first review these systems and then investigate the architectures used. We demonstrate an example of our own (RiskMan) and then discuss the advantages and drawbacks of using multi-agent agent approaches in the development of virtual reality training systems. The chapter describes the system architecture of a multi-agent system for risk management (RiskMan) to help train police officers to handle high-risk situations. RiskMan has been developed using a high-level scripting language of a game engine, Unreal Tournament 2004. The major modules are a scenario-based expert system, a narrative engine, a game engine, and a graphics engine. The system integrates a simulation agent, trainee agent, communication agent, interface agent, and scripted agents communicating using games technology.
We have developed the virtual world of Omosa in which school students can learn what scientists d... more We have developed the virtual world of Omosa in which school students can learn what scientists do by doing it themselves. In Omosa students are able to observe, collect data and interact with a number of intelligent virtual human and animal agents.
The emphasis of many studies investigating Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), including our ow... more The emphasis of many studies investigating Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), including our own, has been on evaluating whether learning has occurred and in determining what factors might have influenced learning. Participants are typically asked to perform certain tasks and answer many questions about their characteristics, preferences, experiences and what they learnt. But what do participants see as relevant to tell us; perhaps they think we have missed something important? To answer this question, we chose three diverse studies, concerning realism, interactivity and immersion, and analyse the free-text comments to see if any patterns could be found in what users were wanting to tell us. Based on the analysis and literature, we suggest a set of categories and usability attributes to be considered when designing and evaluating VLEs.
In this paper, we discuss our experimental results on motion sickness in an immersive virtual env... more In this paper, we discuss our experimental results on motion sickness in an immersive virtual environment. A series of experiments were conducted in our Virtual Reality (VR) Lab to measure the level of motion sickness, when participants were exposed to immersive virtual environments. Our aim was to investigate the correlations between the content of virtual worlds and the motion sickness experienced in those worlds. Two groups of participants were immersed in two slightly different stereoscopic worlds projected on a semi-cylindrical screen: realistic scene versus lines only. The results indicate that both of the scenes induced motion sickness to the participants, however the more realistic the scene is, the higher level of motion sickness is observed.
This study examined the effects of simulator sickness (SS) as a function of the visual complexity... more This study examined the effects of simulator sickness (SS) as a function of the visual complexity of animated virtual actors (AVAs) and the virtual environment (VE) in a virtual scene. Visually complex stimuli may be attractive; however, studies on SS indicate the possibility of significant health risks outweighing the expected benefit in virtual reality (VR) simulations. This study used a series of simulations to teach the basic skills required for village fire fighting to manage fires caused by car accidents. The participants learnt in one of 4 experimental conditions; simple (simple AVAs and simple VE), simple world (lifelike AVAs and simple VE), simple AVAs (simple AVAs and lifelike VE) and lifelike (lifelike AVAs and lifelike VE). We predicted that: (1) SS ratings would increase with the scenes’ visual complexity and (2) simpler VEs would compensate for the effects of visually complex AVAs. Surprisingly, the results contradicted our predictions, with no effect of either variabl...
Proceedings of 11th Conference on Agent and Multiagent Systems, 2012
We have developed the virtual world of Omosa in which school students can learn what scientists d... more We have developed the virtual world of Omosa in which school students can learn what scientists do by doing it themselves. In Omosa students are able to observe, collect data and interact with a number of intelligent virtual human and animal agents.
This paper presents the intelligent virtual animals that inhabit Omosa, a virtual learning enviro... more This paper presents the intelligent virtual animals that inhabit Omosa, a virtual learning environment to help secondary school students learn how to conduct scientific inquiry and gain concepts from biology. Omosa supports multiple agents, including animals, plants, and human hunters, which live in groups of varying sizes and in a predator-prey relationship with other agent types (species). In this paper we present our generic agent architecture and the algorithms that drive all animals. We concentrate on two of our animals to present how different parameter values affect their movements and inter/intra-group interactions. Two evaluations studies are included: one to demonstrate the effect of different components of our architecture; another to provide domain expert validation of the animal behavior.
This study examined the effects of simulator sickness (SS) as a function of the visual complexity... more This study examined the effects of simulator sickness (SS) as a function of the visual complexity of animated virtual actors (AVAs) and the virtual environment (VE) in a virtual scene. Visually complex stimuli may be attractive; however, studies on SS indicate the possibility of significant health risks outweighing the expected benefit in virtual reality (VR) simulations. This study used a series of simulations to teach the basic skills required for village fire fighting to manage fires caused by car accidents. The participants learnt in one of 4 experimental conditions;
The Virtual Mars Yard (VMY) is a simulation system for Internet-based Science, Technology, Engine... more The Virtual Mars Yard (VMY) is a simulation system for Internet-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. It closely mimics the Internetbased teleoperation of Experimental Mars Rover (EMR)-Mawson, a six-wheeled robotic platform with a teleoperable sensor payload being operated at the Mars Yard at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. The VMY offers a realistic kinematic and physics-based dynamic model interacting with an accurate virtual Mars Yard terrain model. It also provides users with a similar graphical user interface to the real teleoperation system. The VMY allows students to practice driving the EMR-Mawson in the virtual environment and learn how the interface works. Potential teleoperation system users can also enhance and test their skills before using the real system at the Mars Yard, with the potential of reducing the risk of damaging the actual system, for long-term operation in STEM education. This paper presents the architecture and applications of the VMY.
The development of scientific inquiry skills is a core element of the draft national science curr... more The development of scientific inquiry skills is a core element of the draft national science curriculum for Australian secondary school students. Yet, despite the prominence of inquiry learning in the curriculum, the use of integrated classroom technology to facilitate inquiry learning is difficult for teachers to implement successfully without support in Australian secondary schools. The purpose of the Virtual Worlds project, which commenced this year, is to conduct learning and cognitive sciences-based research into the potential of scenario-based Multi-User Virtual Environment systems to promote, and perhaps enhance, secondary school learning experiences. In this paper we consider a number of existing science education-based multi-user virtual environments and introduce our project including our goals, approach and scenario underpinning the virtual world.
As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Realit... more As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications become increasingly rich and complex. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) suggests that complex visual materials could hinder novice learners from attending to the lesson properly. On the other hand, previous studies have shown that visual complexity correlates with presence and may increase the perceived affective quality of the virtual world, towards an optimal experience or flow. Increasing these in VR applications may promote enjoyment and higher cognitive engagement for better learning outcomes. While visually complex materials could be motivating and pleasing to attend to, would they affect learning adversely? We developed a series of VR presentations to teach second-year psychology students about the navigational behaviour of Cataglyphis ants with flat, cartoon, or lifelike AVAs. To assess learning outcomes, we used Program Ratings, which measured perception of learning and perceived difficulty, and retention and transfer tests. The results from 200 students did not reveal any significant differences in presence, perceived affective quality, or learning outcomes as a function of the AVA's visual complexity. While the results showed positive correlations between presence, perceived affective quality and perception of learning, none of these correlates with perceived difficulty, retention, or transfer scores. Nevertheless, our simulation produced significant improvements on retention and transfer scores in all conditions. We discuss possible explanations and future research directions.
This article discusses the effects of Animated Virtual Actors' (AVAs) visual complexity on Simula... more This article discusses the effects of Animated Virtual Actors' (AVAs) visual complexity on Simulator Sickness (SS) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications. SS is one of the major disadvantages of VR simulations. Previous research has shown that visual complexity correlates with SS. Yet complex AVAs are increasingly used along with real-time graphics. Minimising SS for a VR application is thus beneficial. A series of VR simulations were created to teach second-year psychology students about the navigational capabilities of desert ants with different levels of AVA's visual complexity: flat, cartoon, or lifelike. We predicted that more complex AVAs would induce more SS. The results contradicted the predictions, with no significant differences in SS between groups as a function of the AVAs visual complexity. Moreover, our methods succeeded in low overall levels of SS in all the simulations. Possible explanations and our future research directions are discussed.
In this paper, we discuss our experimental results on Simulator Sickness (SS). A series of experi... more In this paper, we discuss our experimental results on Simulator Sickness (SS). A series of experiments were conducted in our Virtual Reality (VR) Lab. Our aim was to investigate the correlations between the perception of depth and the feeling of discomfort, as well as the role of gameplay regarding the familiarity of the viewer with computer games in the feeling of discomfort. Participants were immersed in two different stereoscopic landscapes projected on a semi-cylindrical screen.
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the use of multi-agent systems to develop virtual reali... more The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the use of multi-agent systems to develop virtual reality training systems. We first review these systems and then investigate the architectures used. We demonstrate an example of our own (RiskMan) and then discuss the advantages and drawbacks of using multi-agent agent approaches in the development of virtual reality training systems. The chapter describes the system architecture of a multi-agent system for risk management (RiskMan) to help train police officers to handle high-risk situations. RiskMan has been developed using a high-level scripting language of a game engine, Unreal Tournament 2004. The major modules are a scenario-based expert system, a narrative engine, a game engine, and a graphics engine. The system integrates a simulation agent, trainee agent, communication agent, interface agent, and scripted agents communicating using games technology.
We have developed the virtual world of Omosa in which school students can learn what scientists d... more We have developed the virtual world of Omosa in which school students can learn what scientists do by doing it themselves. In Omosa students are able to observe, collect data and interact with a number of intelligent virtual human and animal agents.
The emphasis of many studies investigating Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), including our ow... more The emphasis of many studies investigating Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), including our own, has been on evaluating whether learning has occurred and in determining what factors might have influenced learning. Participants are typically asked to perform certain tasks and answer many questions about their characteristics, preferences, experiences and what they learnt. But what do participants see as relevant to tell us; perhaps they think we have missed something important? To answer this question, we chose three diverse studies, concerning realism, interactivity and immersion, and analyse the free-text comments to see if any patterns could be found in what users were wanting to tell us. Based on the analysis and literature, we suggest a set of categories and usability attributes to be considered when designing and evaluating VLEs.
In this paper, we discuss our experimental results on motion sickness in an immersive virtual env... more In this paper, we discuss our experimental results on motion sickness in an immersive virtual environment. A series of experiments were conducted in our Virtual Reality (VR) Lab to measure the level of motion sickness, when participants were exposed to immersive virtual environments. Our aim was to investigate the correlations between the content of virtual worlds and the motion sickness experienced in those worlds. Two groups of participants were immersed in two slightly different stereoscopic worlds projected on a semi-cylindrical screen: realistic scene versus lines only. The results indicate that both of the scenes induced motion sickness to the participants, however the more realistic the scene is, the higher level of motion sickness is observed.
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