II-EN: Shared Virtual Environments for Studying Social Influences on Risky Cycling and Pedestrian Behavior

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This project will create a simulation facility that will advance a capability to study the social interactions of two children, or a child and parent, as the two people walk or bicycle across a traffic-filled roadway. The project will expand existing infrastructure at the University of Iowa to build a new simulator that matches a recently installed simulator at the same institution, which will permit each of two experimental participants to inhabit their own separate simulated environment. The two simulators will be connected by a high-speed network and programmed to share a single, virtual environment that can be configured for either bicycling or walking. Experimental participants will control their motion by actually walking or cycling across these virtual intersections, surrounded by graphically rendered images that show a real-time, first-person view of their motion through the environment. A full-body motion tracking system will be used to create high-fidelity avatars that represent participant motions to provide a realistic experience of walking or riding with a friend or parent.Intellectual MeritOn the computational side, this research will advance the technology for immersive, interactive virtual environments by developing methods to represent full-body movements in avatars moving through large-scale environments, and by studying how the fidelity of avatar movements influences rider and pedestrian interactions. On the behavioral side, this research will advance an understanding of social influences on risk taking by studying how children interact with friends or parents in the context of crossing roads, an everyday and yet risky activity. The reciprocal relations between the computational and behavioral components of this project will motivate creative solutions to the computational challenges that arise in creating realistic avatars and semi-autonomous agents and will enable new discoveries about the psychological processes underlying risky road-crossing behavior within the context of a virtual environment.Broader ImpactThis research will help to address public health problems by contributing to an understanding of the risk factors for car-bicycle and car-pedestrian collisions. The project will create a foundation for future intervention studies that will help to reduce such collisions. Advances in simulation technology, experimental methodology, and methods to create life-like avatars will contribute to the development of virtual environments for use in behavioral research and simulation-based training. The results of this work will be disseminated to the public through scientific publications and presentations, along with community-based activities such as open house events and bicycling/pedestrian safety lectures for the public.