Half-day tutorial at ISMAR 2024 on

“Cybersickness: Understanding the Challenge and Building Solutions with Standardized Benchmarks”

Join us for an in-depth explo­ration of cyber­sick­ness, a per­sis­tent chal­lenge in vir­tual real­ity (VR). In this tuto­r­ial, we’ll delve into the causes and effects of cyber­sick­ness, draw­ing on the latest research and the­o­ries. We’ll intro­duce you to a novel, open-source bench­mark system designed to help stan­dard­ize the assess­ment and mit­i­ga­tion of cyber­sick­ness, empow­er­ing you to eval­u­ate VR expe­ri­ences and test mit­i­ga­tion strate­gies. Through inter­ac­tive work­shops and hands-on demon­stra­tions, you’ll gain the knowl­edge and tools to create more com­fort­able and immer­sive VR expe­ri­ences. Whether you’re a researcher, devel­oper, or con­tent cre­ator, this tuto­r­ial will equip you to tackle cyber­sick­ness head-on and con­tribute to the advance­ment of VR technology.

 

This half-day tuto­r­ial will pro­vide a com­pre­hen­sive overview of cyber­sick­ness in vir­tual real­ity (VR). It will cover the def­i­n­i­tion, symp­toms, and impact of cyber­sick­ness, as well as the lead­ing the­o­ries and fac­tors that influ­ence it. The tuto­r­ial will also intro­duce a novel, open-source cyber­sick­ness bench­mark system designed to stan­dard­ize the assess­ment and mit­i­ga­tion of cyber­sick­ness. Attendees will learn how to use the bench­mark to eval­u­ate VR expe­ri­ences and mit­i­ga­tion tech­niques, and will have the oppor­tu­nity to par­tic­i­pate in an inter­ac­tive work­shop to dis­cuss poten­tial improve­ments and future direc­tions for the benchmark.

Date & time: Monday afternoon 13:30-17:30 (aka 1:30-5:30pm), 21 October 2024 at ISMAR 2024

Presentation mode: Hybrid

Location: Kirkland room, see ISMAR sched­ule

Join using this Zoom link or check on the ISMAR web­site (con­tact us if you don’t receive it).

This tuto­r­ial will be offered in a hybrid format, with both in-person and online atten­dance options. All par­tic­i­pants will ben­e­fit from live-streamed lec­tures, demon­stra­tions, and Q&A ses­sions. However, in-person atten­dees will have the exclu­sive oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence the Cybersickness Benchmark first­hand, gain­ing hands-on expe­ri­ence with the system and its data analy­sis tools. This immer­sive expe­ri­ence will pro­vide a deeper under­stand­ing of the benchmark’s capa­bil­i­ties and its poten­tial appli­ca­tions in cyber­sick­ness research and mitigation.

Motivation

Cybersickness is a sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenge in the wide­spread adop­tion of VR tech­nol­ogy. It can cause a range of unpleas­ant symp­toms, includ­ing nausea, dizzi­ness, and dis­ori­en­ta­tion, which can neg­a­tively impact the user expe­ri­ence and limit the poten­tial appli­ca­tions of VR. ISMAR atten­dees, includ­ing researchers, devel­op­ers, and con­tent cre­ators, are directly impacted by cyber­sick­ness. This tuto­r­ial will pro­vide them with the knowl­edge and tools to under­stand, mea­sure, and mit­i­gate cyber­sick­ness, ulti­mately improv­ing the user expe­ri­ence and advanc­ing the field of VR.

Tutorial organizers

• Bernhard E. Riecke, Simon Fraser University
• Behrang Keshavarz, KITE Research Institute (UHN) / Toronto Metropolitan University
• Rose Rouhani, Simon Fraser University

Thanks for addi­tional help & sup­port by Kenneth Karthik and Katharina Pöhlmann

Target Audience

This tuto­r­ial is tar­geted towards researchers, devel­op­ers, con­tent cre­ators, and anyone inter­ested in the assess­ment and mit­i­ga­tion of cyber­sick­ness in VR.

Draft outline of tutorial:

See below for a draft outline.

Part 1: Understanding and Measuring Cybersickness (1:30 - 3pm, 90 minutes)

Opening Session (Plenary) 1:30 - 1:45pm

• Welcome and Introductions
• Overview of Tutorial Agenda and Logistics

Introduction to Cybersickness

• What is Cybersickness? Learn about the def­i­n­i­tion, symp­toms, and the impact of cyber­sick­ness on VR experiences.
• How Common is Cybersickness? Understand the preva­lence of cyber­sick­ness and how indi­vid­ual dif­fer­ences can affect susceptibility.

Theories and Factors Influencing Cybersickness

• What Causes Cybersickness? Explore the lead­ing the­o­ries, includ­ing sen­sory con­flict, eco­log­i­cal theory, poison theory, and the ref­er­ence frame hypothesis.
• What Makes Cybersickness Worse? Learn about the key fac­tors that can exac­er­bate cyber­sick­ness, such as field of view, motion type, and indi­vid­ual differences.

Measuring and Quantifying Cybersickness

• How Do We Measure Cybersickness? Get an overview of exist­ing ques­tion­naires (e.g., SSQ, Fast Motion Sickness Scale) and physiological/behavioral mea­sures (e.g., heart rate vari­abil­ity, pos­tural sway).
• Why is Standardized Assessment Important? Understand the chal­lenges and impor­tance of using con­sis­tent mea­sures to com­pare research findings.
• Can We Predict Cybersickness? Learn about the con­cept of pre­dic­tive models for cyber­sick­ness and their poten­tial applications.

Identifying Gaps and the Need for Standardized Benchmarks

• What Are the Limitations of Current Research? Discover the gaps in our under­stand­ing of cyber­sick­ness and the need for better tools.
• Why Do We Need Standardized Benchmarks? Understand the impor­tance of having a reli­able and repro­ducible way to induce and mea­sure cybersickness.
• What is a Standardized Benchmark? Get an intro­duc­tion to the con­cept and its poten­tial to advance cyber­sick­ness research.
• How does the Cybersickness Benchmark look/feel like? Get a teaser of the Cybersickness Benchmark before you get to try it out during the break (from 3–3:30pm)

< 30min break, 3-3:30pm >

Part 2: A Novel Cybersickness Benchmark (3:30 - 4:30, 60 minutes)

Motivation and Design of the Benchmark

• Why Develop a New Benchmark? Learn about the ratio­nale behind cre­at­ing a new cyber­sick­ness bench­mark system.
• How Was the Benchmark Designed? Discover the design process, includ­ing key deci­sions and lessons learned.
• What Makes This Benchmark Unique? Explore the unique fea­tures and advan­tages of the pro­posed benchmark.

Theoretical Foundations and Implementation

• What Theories Underpin the Benchmark? Delve into the the­o­ret­i­cal foun­da­tions of the bench­mark, such as the roller­coaster par­a­digm, visual cues, and figure-eight track design.
• How Does the Benchmark Work? Understand the imple­men­ta­tion details, includ­ing speed changes, fre­quen­cies, and the use of nat­u­ral­is­tic envi­ron­ments with strong optic flow.

Demo and Initial Findings

• Experience the Benchmark: Participate in a live demon­stra­tion of the bench­mark, show­cas­ing its func­tion­al­ity and user interface.
• What Did the Initial Studies Find? Learn about the key find­ings from the ini­tial val­i­da­tion stud­ies, high­light­ing the benchmark’s abil­ity to reli­ably induce and mea­sure cybersickness.
• How Can the Benchmark Be Used? Explore poten­tial appli­ca­tions of the bench­mark in research and development.

How to Use the Benchmark

• Get Started with the Benchmark: Follow a step-by-step guide on how to access and use the bench­mark in Unity.
  • Quick walk-through https://github.sfu.ca/ispace-lab/VRSickness_Benchmark
• Access the Open-Source Code: Learn how to access the code on GitHub and adapt it for your own research.
  • see screen record­ings for fur­ther details
• Analyze Your Data: Get a brief demon­stra­tion on how to ana­lyze the data.

Part 3: What’s next: Interactive Workshop & Future Directions (ca 4:30 - 5:30, 60 minutes)

Interactive Workshop: Improving the Benchmark

• Share Your Ideas: Participate in a brain­storm­ing ses­sion to sug­gest improve­ments or new fea­tures for the benchmark.
• Adapt the Benchmark: Discuss how the bench­mark can be tai­lored to dif­fer­ent VR sce­nar­ios and use cases.
• Voice Your Needs: Provide feed­back on the needs of researchers and devel­op­ers in the field of cyber­sick­ness mitigation.

Overview

In this inter­ac­tive work­shop, you’ll take an active role in shap­ing the future of the cyber­sick­ness bench­mark. We’ll brain­storm new ideas, pri­or­i­tize key topics, and col­lab­o­rate in groups to explore poten­tial improve­ments, adap­ta­tions, and research direc­tions. Your insights and con­tri­bu­tions will directly impact the ongo­ing devel­op­ment and refine­ment of this valu­able tool for the VR community.

Setting the Stage (5 minutes)

We’ll kick off Part 3 with a brief recap of the key take­aways from Parts 1 and 2, set­ting the con­text for our inter­ac­tive work­shop. We’ll then intro­duce the goals of this ses­sion and how we’ll be using Miro and Google Docs to facil­i­tate col­lab­o­ra­tion and brainstorming.

Brainstorming New Topics (10 minutes)

Get ready to share your ideas! We’ll use Miro to brain­storm new topics and research ques­tions related to the cyber­sick­ness bench­mark. To spark your think­ing, con­sider these prompts:

• What are the biggest chal­lenges YOU face in VR projects related to cybersickness?
• What fea­tures or func­tion­al­i­ties are miss­ing from the benchmark?
• What research ques­tions could the bench­mark help answer?
• How can we make the bench­mark more acces­si­ble and user-friendly?
• How can we effec­tively incor­po­rate active loco­mo­tion (walk­ing, run­ning, etc.) into the benchmark?
• How can the bench­mark be adapted to better account for indi­vid­ual dif­fer­ences in sus­cep­ti­bil­ity to cybersickness?
• How can we inte­grate phys­i­o­log­i­cal data (heart rate, skin con­duc­tance, etc.) into the bench­mark for a more com­pre­hen­sive assessment?
• Can we develop pre­dic­tive models using the bench­mark data to antic­i­pate cyber­sick­ness onset?
• How can the bench­mark be tai­lored to spe­cific VR sce­nar­ios (e.g., gaming, train­ing, simulations)?
• Beyond cyber­sick­ness, how can the bench­mark be used to assess and opti­mize the over­all user expe­ri­ence in VR?

Topic Selection and Voting (5 minutes)

From the pool of brain­stormed ideas and pre-selected topics, we’ll use Miro’s voting fea­ture (or a good old-fashioned show of hands) to pri­or­i­tize the most pop­u­lar ones. Then, you’ll get to choose which break­out group you’d like to join based on your interests.

Breakout Groups (20 minutes)

It’s time to col­lab­o­rate! We’ll divide into smaller groups (both in-person and online) to delve deeper into the chosen topics. Each group will have a ded­i­cated facil­i­ta­tor to guide the dis­cus­sion and ensure every­one has a chance to con­tribute. We’ll use Miro and Google Docs to cap­ture key insights and recommendations.

Breakout Group Reports (10 minutes)

Each group will share a sum­mary of their key find­ings and rec­om­men­da­tions with the larger audi­ence. Get ready to hear diverse per­spec­tives and inno­v­a­tive ideas for the future of the cyber­sick­ness benchmark.

Wrap-up, Next Steps, and Q&A (10 minutes)

• Key Takeaways: Review the most impor­tant lessons and insights from the tutorial.
• Ask Your Questions: Get answers to your ques­tions about cyber­sick­ness and the benchmark
• Join the Community: Learn how to get involved in the ongo­ing devel­op­ment and refine­ment of cyber­sick­ness bench­marks and poten­tial research collaborations.