Title: Working on empathy with the use of extended reality scenarios: the Mr. UD project

Authors: Anna Laska-Leśniewicz; Dorota Kamińska; Grzegorz Zwoliński; Luís Coelho; Rui Raposo; Mário Vairinhos; Eric Haamer

Addresses: Institute of Mechatronics and Information Systems, Lodz University of Technology, 116 Zeromskiego Street 90-924 Lodz, Poland ' Institute of Mechatronics and Information Systems, Lodz University of Technology, 116 Zeromskiego Street 90-924 Lodz, Poland ' Institute of Mechatronics and Information Systems, Lodz University of Technology, 116 Zeromskiego Street 90-924 Lodz, Poland ' Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Polytechnic of Porto, Rua Dr. António Bernardino de Almeida, 431, 4249-015 Porto, Portugal ' DigiMedia Research Centre, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal ' DigiMedia Research Centre, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal ' Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, 50411 Tartu, Estonia

Abstract: Empathy has become a central part of design and is loudly manifested in several frameworks such as universal design, inclusive design or human-centred design. This paper presents five independent Extended Reality (XR) scenarios that put potential users in the shoes of people with special needs such as vision impairments, autism spectrum disorder, mobility impairments, pregnancy state and some problems of the elderly. All exercises occur in a supermarket environment and the application is prepared for Oculus Quest 2 platform and is supported in some cases by tangible equipment (geriatric suit, pregnancy belly simulator, wheelchair). The proposed simulations were validated by experts who evaluated the quality of the proposed tasks and the possibility of simulating selected limitations or issues in XR. Ongoing development and testing of the XR application will provide further in-depth views on its usefulness, acceptance and impact in increasing empathy towards the challenges faced by the personas portrayed.

Keywords: virtual reality; extended reality; immersion; empathy; disability simulation; presence; learning; education; HMD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2023.133295

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2023 Vol.72 No.3, pp.169 - 180

Received: 05 Sep 2022
Received in revised form: 15 Nov 2022
Accepted: 14 Dec 2022
Published online: 11 Sep 2023 *

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