Workshop series on the use of Virtual Reality (VR)

CALL TO PARTICIPATE!

Tampere University and XAMK (Kaakkois-Suomen ammattikorkeakoulu) are organizing a joint workshop series on the use of Virtual Reality (VR) to address the needs of Public Transportation Services development and testing.

The first workshop will be held on the 17th of February (09:00 – 15:00) via Zoom. The second workshop is still under development, but it will be held in VR and therefore, has a limited number of participants.

Register Now!

What will be at the workshop?

The workshop will consist of 3 parts:

  • firstly, key speakers from VTT and KONE will present their vision of VR technologies and demonstrate realistic application scenarios of VR
    • Olli Pihlajamaa from VTT will present the context of public transportation and its elements related to service design
    • Sanni Siltanen from KONE will present the value and use cases of VR based on the industrial context
  • next, we are going to present the VIRRAKE platform, a VR-based solution, created by XAMK to address the needs of the construction field. The best thing about VR solutions is that they can be re-utilized for a variety of other needs. In this part, we are going to demonstrate to you how VIRRAKE can be used for testing digital services and service concept validation from the perspective of accessibility. We are going to present the filters of visual impairments and how they can be used for testing and planning digital services.
  • finally, we are going to jump to group work to ideate, conceptualize and create our own virtual tools for testing purposes in VR.

The goal of the workshop series

With these workshops, we aim to create a perfect environment to boost collaboration and co-creation processes among multidisciplinary experts. The goal is twofold:

  1. to raise awareness and spread the knowledge on the potential of VR and how it can be applied to address the testing of services related to public transportation (but not limited to it)
  2. to get concepts or design artefacts regarding the virtual tools, that can be used for this purpose

Why should I participate?

If you are passionate about innovative technologies, sustainability and want to make your opinion heard, this workshop is the perfect fit for you! Together with experts from academia and industry, we are going to inspire, ideate and share our knowledge to create a strong basis for future development of the services in a public transpiration domain. We are going to demonstrate why it is important to test service ideas before implementing them and how VR can be used for this purpose.

How do I register?

It’s simple – just use this form: https://forms.office.com/r/EnFBjSruv8

In case you have any questions or suggestions – feel free to contact Tero and Alissa (tero.avellan@tuni.fi or alissa.burova@tuni.fi )

More information about VIRRAKE

VirRake is a VR platform for collaborative work, it can be used from a desktop user interface or with HMDs. For the case of public transportation, VIRRAKE has a tram station virtual environment. Users may immerse themselves in the virtual tram stop, visit the tram and interact with large screens. Several virtual tools can be further used for testing purposes:

  • Accessibility filters of visual impairments can be used to see with the eyes of visually impaired travelers. That can be used for planning and checking the visibility of the travel information at the stop and in the trams
  • People & weather simulations can be used to test the environment with a given number of other travelers and to see how various light and weather conditions can affect the experience at the tram stop.