On Friday, October 13 we presented at the Carleton College Undergraduate Research and Internship Symposium. This is a large poster session with over 200 students presenting on their summer research and internship experiences. 

Maddie and Jack presented the team poster to interested students, faculty, and other visitors. They were curious to hear about what we learned over the summer and what we are currently working on. Responses were generally very positive and encouraging. We got a lot of questions about the photos of 3D models and Jack in a VR haptic suit.

A few people were interested in the project’s educational and entertainment value and we discussed the ethics and benefits of VR as a medium for education. We sent as many people as we could to the basement where we had the VR rowing mini game experience set up for people to experience. 

Lily and Kritika ran the VR demo, allowing interested attendees to try out our prototype. We had participants enter the experience with as little orientation as possible, with instruction provided as needed. This helped us gauge what additional content will need to be incorporated into the game before it is ready to be used in a museum.

Generally, participants found the experience mostly easy to follow, engaging, and would recommend it to a friend. We learned that there need to be more clear breaks between stages of the game, otherwise participants will not notice that the text on the screen is changing since they are preoccupied with the rowing. The next steps for improving the rowing minigame include adding audible cues for rowing, making distinct breaks between the rounds that direct users back to the instructions, and improving the instructions so users need minimal help from the developers. Progress!