Video caption: We are carrying out testing of effective communication systems in VR
VR Testing: Safe Escape
We are working with Staff at Fire and Emergency New Zealand to carry out VR experiments to investigate the evacuation processes for mobility-impaired populations, using different signs and communication systems to navigate their way to through Occupant Elevator Evacuations (OEEs).
These experiments:
1. Use realistic 3D environments, built with the games/VR engine “Unreal Engine 5”.
2. Immerse occupants in the built environment and ask them to escape from the building using the elevators (lifts).
3. Measure key times when the participants see the signs, or hear notifications.
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of different options.
5. Evaluate relative degrees of success of different communication strategies.
6. Inform the creation of suggested guidelines for good practice for Occupant Elevator Evacuations, intended to inform future design and guidance.
The team are also involved in other aspects of investigating the use of VR to evaluate occupant movement and crowd flow:
Additional Virtual Reality / pedestrian movement publications:
“Exploring single-line walking in immersive virtual reality”: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2023.103882
“Investigating movement through smoke in virtual reality”: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2023.103890
“A Study on Evacuation Behavior in Physical and Virtual Reality Experiments”: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-021-01172-4
“Pursuing behavioral realism in Virtual Reality for fire evacuation research”: https://doi.org/10.1002/fam.2922
