How can virtual reality (VR) be personalized for individuals with limited mobility or physical disabilities? This is what a recent study presented at the CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the limitations that VR systems or applications have for individuals with limited mobility. This study has the potential to break down barriers for disabled individuals or individuals with limited mobility with VR tools that have traditionally been designed for able-bodied individuals, as VR games typically require a wide range of motion.
For the study, the researchers evaluated 10 participants with limited mobility on a variety of VR games and applications while documenting the challenges of using VR with their limited mobility. In the end, the researchers found a variety of challenges, including headset setup time and appropriate fit, two-handed use, range of motion, arm reach, and controller use.
One of the study’s participants using VR goggles to play Beat Saber. (Credit: University of Waterloo)
The researchers devised a set of movement criteria called MotionBlocks that is designed to read the user’s movements and translate them to movements that the game requires. In this case, the participants played the game Beat Saber. The team also obtained participants' feedback and devised a set of movement criteria that they feel could make using VR for individuals with limited mobility more inclusive, including line, arc, point, plane, hemisphere, and sphere.
“VR games are a lot of fun, and they’re important social spaces, especially for younger generations,” said Dr. Johann Wentzel, who is an interaction prototype engineer at Apple and the lead author of the study. “However, VR technology relies on a lot of large movements, which creates a barrier for people who can’t complete them. As soon as you have an application that isn’t accessible to everyone, you’re functionally excluding people with disabilities from these social spaces.”
How will VR help increase access to individuals with limited mobility in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, EurekAlert!