Exploring Accessible Seating Options With VR

Topic Description

Spectating sporting events or concerts may come with additional challenges for disabled people. Non-disabled people can typically buy their tickets online by selecting their preferred seats from a plan of the stadium, while disabled people may need more contextual information on their seats. This may be the distance to the next accessible restroom, the existence of stairs on the path to the seat, how loud it can get, or even how large the seat is. In this thesis, based on recent research, we want to explore how VR can be integrated into the ticket purchasing process to let disabled people explore the accessibility of seats beforehand.
Students will need to develop a functional prototype based on a model of a public venue. The VR application needs to integrate the seat plan into the model and let users move through the environment. Ideally, this should be an embodied exploration with a more realistic experience. This may also include accessible locomotion. The students will then conduct a small evaluation study together with key stakeholders.

Task Summary

1. Related Work: Acquiring a basic understanding of accessibility in public venues and the use of VR for exploring the built environment.
2. Prototype Design: Develop a functional VR prototype of a chosen
   venue that combines the 3D model and the interactive seat plan.
3. Evaluation: Conduct a short qualitative evaluation study with key
   stakeholders.

Skills

Required:  Human-computer Interaction, Accessibility, VR Development

Beneficial:  User Studies

Contact

Lukas Strobel