Published: Thu 10 January 2019
By Sami J. Lehtinen
In blog .
tags: vr mooc assignment
This is a write-up for Udacity VR Nanodegree .
For this exercise, we need to pick an industry. I pick elevator
industry :) Per the assignment, we need to build an educational
application for the chosen industry.
Now, I need to think of a cool simulation for the elevator
business. Developers many times have a hard time putting themselves to
the end users shoes (this is true in KONE as it is elsewhere), so how
about a simulation of an an individual's people flow experience in a
tall building?
Maintenance technicians could learn skills and processes using VR before
going to the field and getting hands-on. VR is safer than the real
environment!
User Persona -- Harper Penn
Image copyright KONE Corporation
Age: 38
Occupation: Elevator technician
Quote: I do not want to make people wait.
Harper is a pro, and wants to make things efficient. He is willing to
try out new technologies if they help him in his job, but he does not
want to waste time with nonsense. He does not take work home, he wants
to spend his free time walking his dog and with his family.
Harper knows about VR, but has not used the technology before.
Using the persona
How accessible would each VR platform be to your target student in
terms of price? Take into account location, age, and income.
Harper can afford more expensive gear should it be required, especially
if his kids can use it as well. His employer might also buy sets of any
necessary VR equipment to the office for the use of multiple people
getting training. On the other hand, Harper already has a decent Android
phone (courtesy of his employer).
How interactive does your lesson need to be? For example, do I need to
pick things up or could I get away with just looking at objects?
Just looking at things may be a bit unsatisfactory for Harper.
How realistic do your visuals need to be in order to teach? For
example, could I use 2D images and videos in a 3D Environment or do
you need high poly 3D models.
Lower resolution would probably be ok as well, and for some teaching
scenarios it might even be better as it would make it easier to
highlight important things and not get bogged down to unnecessary fine
detail. Like safety controls on top of elevator car.
Does my student need to feel like a participant in the experience or
can they be a passive viewer? Could they be both?
In some scenarios, like when just trying out being a passenger and
checking how long it takes to get to various parts of the building,
being a passive viewer might be ok. But movement mechanics and sim
sickness need to be taken into account; automatic railroad movement in
escalators and lifts is ok, but elsewhere we need to give Harper control
so as not to cause unnecessary discomfort.
Given the answers above, what are potential platforms you could use
for your experience?
Mobile or High-immersion VR both work, at least for initial user testing
where prototype is tested.