In the field of medical first responder training, the choice of training modality is crucial for skill retention and real-world application. This study introduces the Green Manikin, an advanced Mixed Reality (MR) tool, conceptually combining the immersiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) with the tangibility of real-world training, and compares it against traditional real-world simulations and VR training. Our findings indicate that MR and real-world settings excel in Self and Social Presence, and in intention to use, offering heightened psychological presence suitable for complex training scenarios. Effort expectancy was highest in real-world environments, suggesting their ease of use for basic skill acquisition. This nuanced understanding allows for better tailoring of training modalities to specific educational objectives. Our research validates the utility of MR and offers a framework for selecting the most effective training environment for different learning outcomes in medical first responder training.

In medical simulation training two approaches are currently rather disjunct: realistic manikins are used to teach physical skills and procedures and VR systems are used to train situation assessment and decision making. We propose a mixed reality approach, which allows trainees to use real tools and their hands when interacting with a physical manikin overlaid with a responsive virtual avatar. In close exchange with first responder organizations, we developed and evaluated an MR training scenario. In the scenario, users can talk to injured people in a car accident, assess the threat of the environment, and utilize real medical equipment. Participants experienced high levels of physical- and self-presence, increased stress levels, and reported a high technology acceptance. The proposed main requirements of first responders regarding haptic multi-sensory skill training in MR and the lessons learned from the workshop aim to guide the design of training solutions for medical training in MR.

Tangible devices and interaction in Extended Reality (XR) increase immersion and enable users to perform tasks more intuitively, accurately and joyfully across the reality-virtuality continuum. Upon reviewing the literature, we noticed no clear trend for a publication venue, as well as no standard in evaluating the effects of tangible XR. To position the topic of tangible XR in the TEI community, we propose a hands-on studio, where participants will bring in their own ideas for tangible XR from their application fields, and develop prototypes with the cutting-edge technology and a selection of virtual assets provided. Additionally, we will collectively reflect upon evaluation methods on tangible XR, and aim to find a consensus of a core evaluation suite. With this, we aim to foster a practical understanding and spark new developments in tangible XR and its use cases within the TEI community.

Abstract Virtual Reality (VR) training has become increasingly important for police first responders in recent years. Improving the training experience in such complex contexts requires ecological validity of virtual training. To achieve this, VR systems need to be capable of simulating the complex experiences of police officers ‘in the field.’ One way to do this is to add stressors into training simulations to induce stress similar to the stress experienced in real-life situations, particularly in situations where this is difficult (e.g., dangerous or resource-intensive) to achieve with traditional training. To include stressors in VR, this paper thus presents the concept of so-called ‘stress cues’ for operationalizing stressors to augment training in VR simulations for the context of police work. Considering the level of complexity of police work and training, a co-creation process that allows for creative collaboration and mitigation of power imbalances was chosen to access the police officers’ knowledge and experience. We assert that stress cues can improve the training experience from the trainer’s perspective as they provide novel interaction design possibilities for trainers to control the training experience. E.g., by actively intervening in training and dynamically changing the interaction space for trainees which also improves the trainee’s experience. Stress cues can also improve the trainee’s experience by enabling personalizable and customizable training based on real-time stress measurements and supplementing information for improved training feedback.

The use of Virtual Reality Environments (VREs) is gaining popularity in various application areas. The combination of a traffic simulation and VRE enables to evaluate whether a newly planned street environment is perceived as safe and pleasant from the pedestrian’s perspective. In this context, the quality of speed perception is of major importance. Thus, experiments were conducted to evaluate the quality of vehicle speed perception in a fully immersive VRE. In a speed estimation task, twenty participants reported their speed estimation on passing cars in different scenarios. The participants underestimated actual speed in all scenarios, whereby passing cars with a lower speed of 30 km/h were underestimated more than with 50 and 70 km/h. This contradicts the results of studies in real-world where pedestrians were able to accurately estimate speeds up to 40 km/h and tend to underestimate higher speeds over 40 km/h. Further investigations with additional contexts and scenarios are therefore necessary to find out why speed perception in a VRE is different from speed perception in real-world.

We present a system to evaluate and improve visual guidance systems and signage for pedestrians inside large buildings. Given a 3D model of an actual building we perform agent-based simulations mimicking the decision making process and navigation patterns of pedestrians trying to find their way to predefined locations. Our main contribution is to enable agents to base their decisions on realistic threedimensional visibility and occlusion cues computed from the actual building geometry with added semantic annotations (e.g. meaning of signs, or purpose of inventory), as well as an interactive visualization of simulated movement trajectories and accompanying visibility data tied to the underlying 3D model. This enables users of the system to quickly pinpoint and solve problems within the simulation by watching, exploring and understanding emergent behavior inside the building. This insight gained from introspection can in turn inform planning and thus improve the effectiveness of guidance systems.

Commuters rely on realistic and real-time information in order to optimize the time spent on commuting between home and work. Delays in (urban) transport and congestion for individual motorized transport are a major issue for unnecessary long travel times. While some of these delays occur randomly,