VR Design: VetVenture
In the "Vetventure," users will step into the shoes of veterinary students from USYD, who handle animals in four different environments. The game helps users hone their veterinary knowledge as they treat animals in diverse settings.
Timeline
Role
Collaboration
Platform
June -November 2023
Designer
a team of three
Unity, Visual Studio, Rhino
Introduction
The objective of this project is to present a detailed concept proposal, accompanied by a functional VR prototype and it aims to offer university students an innovative learning experience within an immersive virtual environment. As we transition into the post- COVID era, many students have become less intrusive to virtual and online learning experiences. In recognition to this shift, our project aspires to adapt this increased potential of Virtual Reality in education.
By conducting a thorough background analysis of potential problem areas, our team has narrowed our focus to our primary users, veterinary science students at the University of Sydney, and secondary users, the professor teaching veterinary science at the University of Sydney. Furthermore, through an analysis into the efficacy, limitations, and potential improvements of these existing solutions, we will carry out a targeted user research followed by a user needs assessment, then establish of a design goal for our VR solution. With these specified design goals, we will present a VR design proposal, encompassed with conceptual sketches, storyboards and prototypes with a summary of initial evaluation of the proposal, alongside an insight of key findings from this project.
Our Design Principle
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Accurate learning system with feedback mechanism: By providing an app that accurately depicts animals’ behaviour and response to handling, we aim to incorporate a realistic learning experience along with some feedback system that points out areas of improvement and reinforces correct practises.
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New sensory learning experience: Create an immersive learning experience by using Virtual Reality and enforce a better form of education in comparison to the classic learning approach.
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A contextual and modular virtual learning experience: A diverse virtual environment that houses various modules focusing on different animals, situations, and contexts to provide instructions and methods on specific environments and challenges.
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Promote more engagement from the user with gamification techniques: Incorporate scores or points to encourage repeated practises and create more than one method to solve a challenge, in-order to allow the user to master different handling methods and skills.
Project Summary
Background Research
Bachelor of Veterinary in University of Sydney
The bachelor of Veterinary is a six-year combined degree that allows candidates to enter the program from high school. Students will learn about biomedical and animal science in the first two years of the degree.
In the third year of study, students can immerse themselves in real-world medicine as the university focuses on clinical cases, applied problems, and practical experiences. (Hurt at work, n.d, 2018)
To be considered for admission, interested candidates must complete a minimum of 4 weeks of experience within two years before application. The experience must involve direct contact and hands-on experience with animals, ideally, some experiences acquired in a veterinary practice.
In addition, all applications for this program must complete a situational judgment test (CAPster). It offers an open-response situation judgment that tests the applicant’s skills, ethics, and attributes best suited for the rigors of veterinary science and the profession.
Injuries in the Veterinary Industry
Historically, animals were restrained by physically overpowering them. However, this will often injure the animals and the vet doctor. Vet students need to learn the techniques of proper restraint and handling animals that build on natural behavioral responses, resulting in more empathy and awareness of the animals, which leads to safety in the animal examination.
In research(2009), researchers have found that 55% to 80% of dogs and cats display fearful behaviors in the clinic. Appropriate handling techniques can minimize the animals’ Fear, Anxiety, and stress.
According to DVM 360, 50-67% of veterinarians reported an animal-related injury during their careers. Common injuries are scratches, bites, kicks, or tramples. Depending on the type of animals, the risks vary. For instance, a bite can lead to infection and other health complications.
Figure 1. Statistic on worker Compensation Claims in Veterinary Fields
According to the above data, out of the 32,000 injuries in the veterinary services profession reported during 2016, about 3,400 required time away from work.
Potential Applications of virtual reality in Veterinary Science in USYD
Currently, based on online research, USYD does not provide virtual reality training courses for their students in veterinary sciences. Our group has considered the following potential practical applications of the virtual program:
Teaching aid: Virtual reality can be a teaching aid for veterinary medicine during their clinical rotation.
Higher engagement of learning: The virtual reality setting allow teachers or students to design a problem-based learning (PBL) model where students can prepare clinical cases and participate through virtual role-play as clients and clinicians.
Assessment of knowledge: The school may use virtual reality as an assessment tool to diagnose students’ learning needs. For instance, students take an anesthesiology class test within the virtual setting.
Virtual training module: The school may look into developing a virtual module for training veterinary students, such as basic anesthesiology or practice surgery, before doing it in reality.
Career Planning: By immersing themselves in introductory modules, virtual reality gives students more information on which major, minor, or elective programs they want to choose. (Note that this is currently not offered in anywhere in the world)
Ultimately, our group decided to create a virtual reality program for veterinary students who are unfamiliar with handling and restraint animals. They will also learn how to conduct simple medical procedures such as simple physical examination of weighing the animals, sedating the cat and, drawing blood.
Furthermore, the school or teachers can potentially adapt our programs for the situational judgment assessment, which helps provide feedback and assess attributes of veterinary students.
Scaffold knowledge to build vet students’ confidence
Pedagogy refers to the scientific method and practice of teaching
Pedagogy refers to the scientific method and practice of teaching.
We looked at some relevant pedagogy related to better design meaningful learning activities and experiences in VR.
Constructivism in experiential learning: Students will learn by constructing their knowledge based on their hands-on experiences in virtual reality. In immersive environments, students can manipulate objects, experiment with scenarios, and see the consequences of their actions. Students in veterinary science will use their five senses in the program, further engaging learning. (Marougkas, A., Trousseau,C, Krouska, A & Sgouropoulou, 2023)
Situational-based learning: The virtual reality program will present vet students with various medical scenario where they may work alone or collaboratively with others to find solutions. (Level-up Your Scenario-Based Learning With VR. (n.d), 2023)
Scaffold knowledge to build vet students’ confidence
According to the zone of proximal development (Lev Vygotsky, 1962), learners will learn more meaningfully when teachers provide support to bridge the gaps between what they can do without help and what they can do with guidance. As all individuals learn differently, virtual reality programs offer flexibility for users to modify the program and provide sufficient support.
Feedback in learning:
Students can receive immediate feedback such as visual, haptic and audio cue learn from their mistakes. For instance, students will learn about their mistakes or what went right when they see an immediate reaction in a virtual environment. (Why is Haptic Feedback important for VR Education? (n.d.), 2023)
Data Analytics for Teachers: The program can quickly churn out student engagement and performance analytics.
Gamification in Education
Using points, badges, levels, peer feedback, and teachers’ feedback to motivate learners intrinsically and extrinsically is possible. VR elements also create realistic and immersive experiences that encourage the joy of learning in veterinary medicine. (Things You Should Know About Gamification. (n.d.), 2023)
Market & Precedent Research
Simulation for Assembly of Medical Anesthesia Unit
This video shows two students assembling an anesthesia unit to perform safety checks before use. One student works on the actual anesthesia unit while the other works in virtual reality.
What we learned: The user working on the virtual reality needs more space as he makes huge movements in the room. Therefore, we must consider the ‘safe area’ for users to move around as they plug into virtual reality. The program give users space and freedom to interact with equipment.
Virtual reality users do not operate on physical machines; instead, they use controllers. He may need time to get physically used to the devices. However, we can tell that conceptually, the user knows how to assemble the equipment.
Learn Canine Anatomy VR
The project’s purpose is to allow the vet students to learn about the internal workings of a dog and see where they lie and how the bones move without harming the specimen.
Students studying veterinary medicine at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine are testing virtual reality learning tools created by Virginia Tech. This tool enables them to delve into the intricacies of canine anatomy within a three-dimensional virtual reality environment.
Virtual reality and the realism of the graphics helps the students to visualize the position and appearance of the organ of the canine. They use controllers to interact with the graphics. When users click on the particular organ, it is highlighted as part of visual feedback. There isn’t much words used in the screen. When they come to the practical session and work with a natural dog, they can better relate to the dog’s anatomy.
A student said she had never experienced VR technology before, which blew her mind. She could place herself inside the dog’s rib cage and look around all the organs. From this perspective, it helped her to create a mental map of the thoracic cavity.
Figure 2. Virtual Reality Project by Colorado State University
Figure 3.1 & 3.2. Project by Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary
Summary
Based on online research, virtual reality training in veterinary science is still developing but holds much potential in the future. There isn’t virtual reality training solely for animal handling and restraining, most probably due to the lack of technological advancement and hardware that can stimulate the tactile sensation of an animal on human hands. However, it remains a possibility, and we can still test the students’ conceptual knowledge on it.
User Research
Total Survey Participants: 19
USYD Vet students: 13
Others: 6
We have recruit these participants from social media in facebook and linkedIn. Some of them are also our friends.
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Minor Scratches and little to no experience in real-life situation
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Under-estimating the ferocity of animals that are in fear?
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Safety concerns about health and contamination of disease
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Being careless when experienced
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Lack of hands-on experience
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Trying to restrain a 600kg animal when you are a 70kg human Flight fight response in animals
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Wild animals are much more unpredictable than domesticated or companion animals. A huge range of species also needs to be covered - from reptiles and birds to giant marsupials and minute gliders
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Biosecurity risks, the welfare of animals that we handle regularly
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Not enough handling experience with Australian reptiles, birds, and mammals for Vet students
Question 1: Do you feel it is important to have a safety induction on proper animal handling & restraint?
Figure 3.1. Answers from Survey Question 1
Question 2: Have you suffered from any minor or major injuries when handling the animals?
Figure 3.2. Answers from Survey Question 2
Question 3: What is your confidence level in handling and restraining animals?
Figure 3.3. Answers from Survey Question 3
Question 4: Do you think it will help in your learning if there is a series of training on proper handling for different types of animals in virtual reality?
Question 5: In our virtual reality program, you may be transported to different places such as school lab, farm, hospital or zoo. Do you think it will help in your learning for proper animal handling?
Question 6: In our virtual reality program, our animals may display a number of personalities such as friendly, fearful and aggressive etc. Do you think it will help in your learning for proper animal handling?
Figure 3.4. Answers from Survey Question 4
Figure 3.5. Answers from Survey Question 5
Figure 3.6. Answers from Survey Question 6
Question 7: From types of Benefits of VR learning below, which do you think has the strongest benefit?
Figure 3.7. Answers from Survey Question 7
Needs Analysis
Psychologists have used the P.I.E.S framework to understand and categorize human needs in health, child development, and social care. It is a tool to ensure that all aspects of a person’s well-being are considered. (K.Graybill. (2015, August 21))
We have decided to summarize our user needs research into P.I.E.S to understand the needs of our veterinary students in USYD.
Physical Needs
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To prevent injuries, veterinary medicine students in USYD must learn to physically restrain and examine various species, including large and small animals.
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We have discovered that the environments in clinical and labs in school are mostly controlled setting, reducing the rate of accidents. However, according to our survey, it is still possible for accidents to happen when vets handle animals in a relatively new environment
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Adhering to safety protocols to prevent transmission of zoonotic diseases.
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Knowing some of the preventative measures to prevent ergonomic hazards in restraint animals and knowing how to use tools with ergonomic design in mind.
Intellectual needs
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Vet students learn about animal anatomy and the basic principles of handling other animals during their first two years of the course.
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Vet students learn about safety protocols such as cleansing hands and forearms with disinfecting products and wearing PPE to minimize infection and other hazards.
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Vet students need know how to use types of equipment to restrain an animal for a specific procedure.
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We recognized that there are diverse learners who learn differently.
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We also recognized that some users could be unfamiliarized with VR technology and will need visual cues to guide them.
Emotional Needs
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Students build their confidence and competency by handling real-life veterinary situations, which deepen their practices.
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Effective handling of the animals helps prevent anxiety, fear, and stress and creates positive experiences for their patients.
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Build trust with the animals and owners of the pets.
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Students learn to manage their emotions and expression and care for their patients.
Social needs
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Vet students learn to work with their mentors in their compulsory course placement.
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They need to learn to manage conflict and work within a team to deliver the necessary for their patients in a professional environment.
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They need to learn to build relationships with the pets and owners.
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Often, vets work in team and they may need to collaborate in virtual reality.
Debrief
The “Immersive Education” design brief emphasizes the important role of Virtual Reality (VR) in modern learning. In response, our VR concept offers a study adventure tailored for veterinary students, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world application. Through a series of realistic scenarios, from calming a frightened cat to managing livestock, users can gain hands-on experience in a risk-free environment. This immersive approach, coupled with immediate feedback, ensures users not only gain the academic content but also develop practical skills essential for their future profession in real life.
Project Relation with the Brief
This project is a VR application designed to facilitate veterinary students in mastering the animal handling skills required for any veterinary students. Given the critical nature of practical training in veterinary science, the application aims to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience by inviting the user to a virtual environment. Direct animal handling, especially for those without experience, carries inherent risks for both the handler and the animal and such unjuries, borne from inexperience or unforeseen reactions, may have lasting consequences. Therefore, this VR design solution serves a dual purpose of: 1. Providing students with a safe environment to gain experience, allowing them to make mistakes without real-world repercussions, and 2. offer a virtual yet realistic platform for practice to significantly reduces the potential for injuries when they transition to handling live animals. By bridging this experiential gap, we’re ensuring that when the students do engage in real-world practice, they are better prepared, more confident, and above all, safer in their interactions with their natural patients.
Design Goals
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Provide a virtual learning environment for Veterinary student on animal handling.
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Design a fun and immersive educational solution that bridged the experiential gap between practical experience and theoretical knowledge.
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By using gamification techniques, invite the user to actively master the techniques of animal handling, especially for new students.
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Provide adaptive learning pathways based on individual progress and skill levels.
Project Review
Iteration 1: Concept Testing
The purpose of this prototype was to test the concept of the our design ideas, and observe the general user flow of the design to identify the possible points of improvement. By creating a 360 sketch* of our initial design model, and testing it on our possible users using Richo Theta (USYD vet students), we conducted some Role Plays and Think aloud methods through to gain key insights for the next iteration.
Figure 4. Images of In Game Perspective of 360 Sketch run on Ricoh Theta Software
User Testing Method and Analysis
Think Aloud and Role-Playing
By creating a low-fidelity prototype of our design app using 360 Sketching*, we were able to test the concept of our project and gain feedback from the possible users, using the “Think Aloud” method and “Role-play” testing. With the two-testing method, we were able to get an insight on the usability, functionality and user-flow of our proposed design solution and test if the user needs were able to be fulfilled to our target users. Below is an outline of how the testing was conducted.
Test Outline
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Gather a few of our target audiences and introduce them briefly about our VR app and explain its desired purpose.
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Each user takes a look around the 360-sketch using the Ricoh Theta app*, and the user outlines their next desired move (i.e., I would like to pat the cat, I would like to pick-up a tool), as the prototype is not interactive, we manually guide the user to the next screen and repeats the process, until they have completed or exited the game.
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The user gives critical feedback on the pros and cons of the app, and we have also asked the testers to provide at least one possible point of improvement.
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Gather and analyse the qualitative and quantitative data from the testing.
Strengths
Four out of five users were able to go into the game without asking us how to start the game
Instructions were clear, and all of the testers were able to accomplish the game without any in-depth explanation.
The user was able to clearly identify that the game was over and had no issues exiting the game.
Satisfied with the content of the application and viewed the app has a great learning experience for students before a hands-on experience.
Points of Improvement
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How can the Users get more immersive experience in the VR app? For example, how can they move around the environment, instead of just standing in one spot?
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If the user has made a mistake (i.e. mishandling the animals), how will the user know that they have made a mistake, and how will they amend it?
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Are there any hints available for the user?
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Few of the testers actually stated that instead of letting the user choose the animal, symptoms and environment, they would much prefer being given a context (some of the common situation they face, like relaxing a fierce cat in the VET clinic) by the game. There are few reasons why they prefer this method, but one of the dominant reasons was the lack of realism. They stated that having a pig in a domestic situation or a cat in a zoo situation is a situation that they will never face, and rather focus to practise on situations that they would face more.
Overall Feedback
Overall, the general target audiences were satisfied with the concept and usability of the app and viewed it as a potential learning tool in the future. If implemented correctly, they stated that this may reduce the risks of students getting injured and will also be an interesting method of learning animal handling, away from the boring textbook education. As the UI and other functions weren’t properly implemented in the app, the user had a lack of immersive experience and were not able to test any interactivity of the app, hence limited feedback on the visual and spatial perception were gained from this user testing. While such testing methods are effective for early feedbacks and concept validation, the mentioned limitations highlight the importance of moving on to a more functional prototype. In case for complex applications like VR, it is important to perform a higher fidelity user testing, to gather more detailed, accurate, and actionable feedback.
Path to the Next Iteration
Enhanced User Guidance, instead of just giving instructions, when a user picks up/interact with a tool, the user will be given what they can do with them. (for example, if they picked up a harness, a pop-up notification saying: “this is a towel and it can be used to blind the animals eyes!”
User Interface
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Gaze Interaction: tracking the orientation of the head of the user, the system will be able to determine where the user is looking at within the virtual environment. The dots at the centre of the user’s view will act as a cursor and if the user focuses their gaze on a particular object or UI element for a specified amount of time (e.g., 2 seconds), it’s registered as a selection or activation.
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Gaze-based Teleportation movement: Around the map, there will be markers where the user will be able to move to. When a user looks at the location they wish to move to, the cursor will target the desired location move the player to the spot. Though gaze-based movements can decrease the immersion, it will be an advantage for this project as it is targeted for a mobile experience, reduces motion sickness for the user and will be an easier and more intuitive option for new VR users. Note: Red spot indicates the starting point, where the help button and “My Animal Guide” will be available and blue spot indicates the movable spots.
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Pop-up UI and My Animal Guide, the main in-game guides: The user will always have a general UI tab and a central cursor available when in-game. Furthermore, a customizable animal character, called “My Animal Guide” will be included inside the game, to give users instructions, or exit the game.
Iteration 2: Userability Testing
3D Storyboarding
Persona Based Walk with Possible Users
A persona-based walk is a role-playing analysis for a low-fidelity VR prototype is a method used to evaluate the user experience (UX) by embodying and role-playing as a specific user persona. This approach can help designers identify potential usability issues and empathize with their target users, even while the VR prototype is in a low-fidelity stage. Beyond simply conducting a persona based walkthrough with the team, we have also conducted the role-play evaluation with to the five of the potential users and stakeholders to gain their insights that our team may overlook.
Test Outline
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Develop a detailed persona with their general demographic, VR familiarity, goals and challenges.
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Brief the purpose of the app to the audience and ensure that they are fully understand how the app works.*
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Determine the tasks that will be performed by the personas and perform some role play.
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Verbalize the thoughts and record any observations and discuss for potential improvements among the team and potential users.
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When all tests are conducted, ask the user about the five key questions and evaluate from the responses.
The 5 Key Questions
Below are the Five key questions that we have asked to our testers after a Persona-based, these questions were asked to gain insights and possible points of improvement that our team may have overlooked.
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How do you feel about the animals in the storyboard?
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How do you feel about the environment that you are in?
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How do you feel about the guidance provided within the app?
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Were the controls intuitive for you?
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Any improvements you’d suggest?
Our Target Users
Primary Target User: University students studying Veterinary Science in University of Sydney
Secondary Target User: Academics and Professors of Veterinary Science in University of Sydney
Proposed Personas
Below are the Five key questions that we have asked to our testers after a Persona-based, these questions were asked to gain insights and possible points of improvement that our team may have overlooked.
Figure 7.1. Persona 1: Melanie Sim
Figure 7.2. Persona 2: Noah William
Key Insights
Through our comprehensive VR design proposal process for the animal handling app targeted at Sydney University’s veterinary students, we were able to get a significant insights about the gap between theoretical knowledge available to students, and practical hands-on experience. Our market and user research highlighted that student often felt unprepared when faced with real-world animal handling situations, leading to heightened stress and injury frequencies from mishandling. Thus, by integrating feedback from our user needs analysis, iterative design process, and user testing, we discovered the user needs for an immersive, interactive educational opportunity that not only educates but also simulates real-world scenarios in a more fun, immersive, and adaptive learning experiences. This app, therefore, is not just another educational tool, rather it aims to act as a bridge that equips Sydney University’s veterinary students with the confidence and competence to navigate the challenges they are to face within their future world of animal care, and to minimizing risks and injuries for both the handler and the “handle”.
Foreseen Challenges
Below are some of the Foreseen challenges that were identified during our design proposal.
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Technological Limitations: As the app is being tailored for mobile VR, the application not be capable of rendering high-quality simulations, and high quality interactions, such as multi-sensory experience and etc.
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Lack of Immersion: Immersion is a critical aspect for VR applications, especially for a purpose of an educational tool. Any gaps in creating a realistic and engaging environment can hinder the learning process and could lead the students to feel away from the ‘presence’ within the virtual environment, they might not take the simulations seriously, reducing the effectiveness of the training.
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Content Scope and Overwhelm: Given the vastness of animal handling techniques, there’s a risk of trying to cover too much, leading to information overload, hence it will be important to research on what Animal Handlings needs to be prioritized when learning.
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Adapting to Varied Skill Levels: Vet students are bound to be at different proficiency levels. A one-size-fits-all approach might not cater to everyone effectively, therefore, designing an adaptive learning paths, where content difficulty scales based on user performance would be crucial to prevent novice students from feeling the content as being too complicated, while those who are experienced finding it too basic.
Summary
This project aimed to deliver a concept design proposal of a VR prototype to provide university students an enhanced immersive learning experience, especially relevant in the post-COVID era’s shift towards virtual platforms. By focusing on veterinary science students and professors at the University of Sydney, our team’s approached this task with detailed background analysis, user research, and needs assessment to shape our VR design goals, leading to some user testings on conceptual visualizations and low-fidelity prototypes. In the next project, we aim to utilise these insights to build a working prototype, which aims to be tested on our targets users again for an iterative design process.
Concept of the Game
In the "Vetventure," users will step into the shoes of veterinary students from USYD,who handle animals in four different environments. The game helps users hone theirveterinary knowledge as they treat animals in diverse settings.
Gamification of Learning
Level 1 - Home Setting: Users will care for a sick dog by diagnosing its ailment and preparing it for a vet's visit.
Level 2 - Farm Setting: Players must locate and tend to a sick cow, ensuring it receives timely treatment.
Level 3 - Vet clinic: This level immerses the users in a clinical setting where they will face an anxious cat. Their goal is to calm and treat the feline, applying their accumulated skills.
Level 4 - Mysterious Level: The user will unlock it after completing the first three stages.
Feedback in Learning
In the game, an interactive animal avatar, Baby Deer will follow users and provide hints for corrective actions if they make errors in a medical procedure.
Exit game
To aid navigation in different contexts, we have placed objects as teleportation devices.
Red Ball: Allows users to leave the entire game.
Other Colored Ball: Allow users to teleport to varying levels.
VR Headset and Controller Interaction
Users will play the VR game using a locomotion controller to move in all directions. The VR headset allows users to interact with objects by intuitively directing their gaze with a central reticule. The reticule will rotate slightly, signalling a visual cue of successful selection.
Design Process
Prototyping
To ensure a consistent design across all environment elements in assignment two, our teaminitially created the 3D models in Rhino and refined them in Blender before integrating them intoUnity.
We have curated realistic assets that match our environmental elements. Our 3D modelsreplicated the natural world through intricate details with rich texture design, nuanced lighting,and shadow casting. Our VR game also runs on 60fps, providing sufficient resolution that preventsmotion sickness.
Known issues (bugs)
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Spamming the Mouse button (Click to Run) to go through walls and Tree Assets: When the user spams the mouse button in front of any blocking objects like wall or trees, they can actually pierce through the walls.
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No lighting in the interior settings such as Vet Clinic and Home environment: Due to lighting setting difficulties, the interiors were made with opened ceilings and lights were shined with a skybox asset from unity store.
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Some of the Interact-able objects are named in wrong state: i.e. Treat02 - instead of Cattreat and etc.
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The click button on cardboard VR not working: when run and build on mac or in iOS, the camera movement (using alt or option in mac) or the click to run (in iOS) does not work.
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Some Dog animation not working: When the dog is teleported to the surgery board, we expect it to lie down, however, the dog is still in sitting animation.
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Animal Movement unnatural: Due to the asset loading failure and configuration issues, some of the movements in animals are slightly vague.
Team Crafted Assets
In the development of Vetventure, a significant portion of the content was crafted in-house. This includes game objects, interactive scripts, and gameplay mechanisms. We meticulously designed gameplay scenes, fine-tuned object movements, and wrote custom gameplay scripts to ensure an enriched user experience in Vetventure. Our hands-on approach allowed us to tailor the game environment closely to our vision, resulting in a unique and immersive VR experience for the end-users, and creating a unique game, with visual similarities, gathering the game into a unison. Below are some of the Examples of some assets that were developed on our own.
Asset Example 1: The Stages - Vet, Home, Farm and Main.
The main game objects that were created as our team was the background assets of the games, i.e., farm, home and vet clinic. Some of the assets like home and vet was created using Rhino 3D app to create the structure of the interior, then were furnished using assets from the Unity stores. Other backgrounds like the the stage-picking, home page and farm were created using terrain game object in unity and were adjusted/modified to meet each stages. Below are some of examples of the background stages.
Model 1: Home Context in Rhino
Model 2: Vet (walls only) created in Rhino
Model 3: Farm (terrain only) Created in Unity
Asset Example 2: Gameplay Scripts
For the operation of the game, some C# scripts were created to generate game mechanics such as player/camera teleportation, Guide Animal (Sania) mechanics, Animal movement mechanics and interaction mechanics. Interactions such as Interacting with Animals or other Game Objects (like towels, toys and etc.) were done with AnimalInteraction and InteractableObject scripts and behaviours of animals and Sania were done with DogBehaviour, CatBehaviour, CowBehaviourand SaniaBehvaiour Scripts. The item (items on players' hand) and the player’s current location in game (whether it is in vet, home, farm or not in-game; this was used to provide Sania with appropriate hints), were gathered in the PlayerManager script accessible as an instance in any scripts. CameraSwitch (When hitting the ball, moves the player to the location) andCollisionRun mechanism was used to manage the camera of the users and Sania’s movement(following the playing) was done by AnimalFollow script, with conjunction of the Unity’s AInavigation package: AI Navigation (Nav Mesh, also used to model movements of other animals.
Other Prefab Assets
In our quest to enhance the gameplay experience in Vetventure, we strategically sourced assets from the Unity AssetStore, ranging from complimentary offerings to premium acquisitions. These assets not only expedited our development timeline but also augmented the game's overall quality, with the help of the assets from experienced developers. In addition to these assets, our gameplay scripting and sound sources were enhanced with insights fromChatGPT and guidance from the tutorials/lectures. It's worth noting that while these resources provided a solid foundation, they were not used to complete an entire script. Instead, they often served as a starting point or a syntactical guide to ensure that our C# coding remained on point. This integrated approach enabled us to maintain originality in our scripting while benefiting from established best practices. Below are some of the assets that were used in VetVenture.
Sound Assets
Game Object Assets
Future Work
For more immersive experiences, we could integrate more multi-sensory elements, like haptic responses and tactile sensations, which simulate real-life responses during interaction. Additionally, a more profound visual expression of animals would increase the realism. Furthermore, a variety of maps and levels can be added to enrich game experiences, time and hardware constraints prevents us from realising these ideas.