Stuart Era Virtual Museum

About

The goal of this project was to create a virtual museum covering Stuart England (1603–1649), using three different modes of interaction. One mode includes using a gamepad to interact with the museum. Another mode using virtual reality and speech recognition. The final mode of interaction uses virtual reality, Leap Motion in place of the virtual reality controller and speech recognition. The final goal is to compare the three versions to determine which version could provide a better virtual museum experience. However, due to the COVID pandemic, a formal user study could not be carried out.

Each type of exhibit will have a set of unique interactions for the user to take advantage of, as well as learn about the exhibits. It is hoped that the combination of virtual reality, hand gestures and speech recognition will provide the user with a fun, immersive experience and leaving the user with a desire to learn more about the period.

Several years later, this project was submitted as a Poster paper to GCH23.

Types of Exhibits

The types of exhibits present in the Stuart Era Virtual Museum are:

Artefact exhibits consist of small objects that the user can pick up and take a closer look at, like artefacts behind glass cases in real-world museums

Gamepad: Use the controller buttons to pick up, scale, or rotate the artefact. The user is also able to request information about the artefact
Virtual Reality: Use the VR controller to pick up the artefact and inspect using VR hands. The user is also able to speech-recognition keywords to request information
Natural Interaction: Use the hand tracking to pick up and inspect the object using the user's own hands. The user is also able to speech-recognition keywords to request information

Portraits are used to show notable figures from the period

Gamepad: Use the D-pad, the user is able to request information about the portrait
Virtual Reality: Use the VR controller to point at a list of keywords nearby to the portrait and request information by saying "tell me about this" or speak the keyword directly
Natural Interaction: Use hand tracking to point towards a keyword nearby to the portrait and request information by saying "tell me about this" or speak the keyword directly

Timeline Exhibits are used to display exhibits that focus on change over time, such as maps

Gamepad: Use the D-pad to increment or decrement the Timeline Exhibit
Virtual Reality: Use the VR controller to press buttons on either side of the Timeline Exhibits to increment or decrement the timeline. Additionally, the user can speak a keyword to increment or decrement the Timeline Exhibit
Natural Interaction: Use hand tracking to press buttons on either side of the Timeline exhibits to increment or decrement the timeline. Additionally, the user can speak a keyword to increment or decrement the Timeline Exhibits

Diorama Exhibits are used to create still renditions of events that the players can enter and walk around inside

Gamepad: Users can enter the diorama using the controller buttons, as well as request information using the D-pad
Virtual Reality: User can enter the diorama using an "opening" hand gesture with the VR controllers and can request relevant information using the relevant keywords
Natural Interaction: User can enter the diorama using an "opening" hand gesture with the hand tracking and can request relevant information using the relevant keywords

In addition to these, the user is also given a guidebook to see the relevant keywords and to see a text version of the information being recited to them.

For more information, see "Exploring Different Interaction Styles in the Context of a Virtual Museum"