Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) caused by a condition related to brain development. It impacts verbal and non-verbal communication and social interactions, causing lack of skills in developing, maintaining and understanding relationships, restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. All these difficulties make daily tasks, like going to school or going out for grocery shopping, very difficult to complete and sometimes impossible to accomplish alone. 5A is a project that aims to improve the autonomy of people with autism in everyday life contexts through the use of immersive technologies, namely: virtual and augmented reality and conversational agents. The use case chosen for this thesis is the museum, belonging to the context of access and use of commercial, cultural and recreational services. The experience starts with a preliminary training in Virtual Reality where users are immersed in an artificial museum environment and are guided through a set of tasks thanks to the use of a Virtual Assistant and other virtual elements. In order to facilitate the understanding and learning of the experience carried out in VR these elements are shared as transmedial elements in the Augmented Reality app that can act both as a secondary training in loco as well as a complete guide for the user during the visit. Both the applications are highly configurable according to the user’s needs to maximize the benefits. The following document describes the design and implementation process of the two applications. Moreover, an exploratory study has been carried out to test the usability and acceptability of the system.
Il Disturbo dello Spettro Autistico (ASD) è un gruppo di disturbi dello Sviluppo Neurologico (NDD) causato da una condizione correlata allo sviluppo del cervello. Ha un impatto sulla comunicazione verbale e non verbale e sulle interazioni sociali, causando mancanza di abilità nello sviluppo, nel mantenimento e nella comprensione delle relazioni, interessi ristretti e comportamenti ripetitivi. Tutte queste difficoltà rendono le attività quotidiane, come andare a scuola o uscire a fare la spesa, molto difficili da completare e talvolta impossibili da compiere da soli. 5A è un progetto che mira a migliorare l'autonomia delle persone affette da autismo nei contesti di vita quotidiana attraverso l'uso di tecnologie immersive, ovvero: realtà virtuale e aumentata e agenti conversazionali. Il caso d'uso scelto per questa tesi è il museo, appartenente al contesto di accessibilità e fruizione di servizi commerciali, culturali e ricreativi. L'esperienza inizia con una formazione preliminare in Realtà Virtuale in cui gli utenti sono immersi in un ambiente museale artificiale e sono guidati attraverso una serie di compiti grazie all'uso di un Assistente Virtuale e altri elementi virtuali. Al fine di facilitare la comprensione e l'apprendimento dell'esperienza svolta in VR, questi elementi sono condivisi come elementi transmediali nell'app in realtà aumentata, che può fungere sia da formazione secondaria in loco, sia da guida completa per l'utente durante la visita. Entrambe le applicazioni sono altamente configurabili in base alle esigenze dell'utente per massimizzarne i benefici apportati. Il seguente documento descrive il processo di progettazione e implementazione delle due applicazioni. Infine, è stato condotto uno studio esplorativo per testare l'usabilità e l'accettabilità del sistema.
Virtual and augmented reality. Conversational agents for persons with autism : a case study
Bacchini, Giacomo
2020/2021
Abstract
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a group of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDD) caused by a condition related to brain development. It impacts verbal and non-verbal communication and social interactions, causing lack of skills in developing, maintaining and understanding relationships, restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. All these difficulties make daily tasks, like going to school or going out for grocery shopping, very difficult to complete and sometimes impossible to accomplish alone. 5A is a project that aims to improve the autonomy of people with autism in everyday life contexts through the use of immersive technologies, namely: virtual and augmented reality and conversational agents. The use case chosen for this thesis is the museum, belonging to the context of access and use of commercial, cultural and recreational services. The experience starts with a preliminary training in Virtual Reality where users are immersed in an artificial museum environment and are guided through a set of tasks thanks to the use of a Virtual Assistant and other virtual elements. In order to facilitate the understanding and learning of the experience carried out in VR these elements are shared as transmedial elements in the Augmented Reality app that can act both as a secondary training in loco as well as a complete guide for the user during the visit. Both the applications are highly configurable according to the user’s needs to maximize the benefits. The following document describes the design and implementation process of the two applications. Moreover, an exploratory study has been carried out to test the usability and acceptability of the system.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Virtual and Augmented Reality + Conversational Agents for persons with autism. A case study.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/183834