REU Site: Collaborative: Making Augmented and Virtual Reality Accessible

增强现实和虚拟现实 (XR) 技术正在成为流行的消费产品。然而，目前 XR 设备、开发工具和内容给残疾人士带来了重大的无障碍挑战。如何向视力障碍人士描述 3D 虚拟环境？应如何向有听力障碍的人提供 3D 字幕？有运动控制障碍的人如何驾驭 3D 世界？ 这个 REU 网站汇集了教授。无障碍专家 Shiri Azenkot 和 Brian Smith，以及增强现实和 3D 交互先驱 Steven Feiner 教授。该网站将培训学生成为 XR 无障碍领域的未来领导者。学生将接受无障碍和 XR 方面的培训，参与从构思到演示的研究过程，并加入由学者和从业者组成的社区，他们将提供职业建议和指导。此外，REU 学生开展的项目将为哥伦比亚大学和康奈尔大学的研究人员和其他合作者之间的新合作奠定基础。该网站将招收来自弱势群体的学生，特别是残疾学生。目标是建立一个混合能力群体，其中一半学生有残疾，一半学生没有残疾。学生将参加一系列正式和非正式的学习，包括 XR 开发“训练营”、与学术界和业界 XR 专家的对话以及关于他们工作进展的演示。学生将从事无障碍和 XR 交叉领域的项目。可能的项目示例包括设计为盲人提供虚拟环境概述的描述，以及在虚拟环境中为盲人设计有效的导航技术。该提案的更广泛影响有两个方面。首先，它支持国家科学基金会扩大参与的使命，重点招募来自代表性不足群体的学生，特别是残疾学生。其次，研究的重点将惠及全世界的残疾人。随着 XR 成为越来越受欢迎的消费者平台，REU 的研究将有助于确保它为人们提供平等的用户体验，无论其残疾状况如何。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Augmented and virtual reality (XR) technologies are becoming popular consumer products. However, at present XR devices, development tools, and content pose major accessibility challenges for people with disabilities. How can you describe a 3D virtual environment to a person with a visual impairment? How should you present captions in 3D to a person who is hard-of-hearing? How can a person with a motor control disability navigate a 3D world? This REU Site brings together Profs. Shiri Azenkot and Brian Smith, experts in accessibility, along with Prof. Steven Feiner, an augmented reality and 3D interaction pioneer. The site will train students to be future leaders in XR accessibility. Students will receive training in accessibility and XR, engage in the research process from ideation to presentations, and join a community of scholars and practitioners who will provide career advice and mentorship. In addition, the projects undertaken by REU students will form the basis for new collaborations among the investigators and other collaborators at Columbia and Cornell. The site will recruit students from underrepresented backgrounds, especially students with disabilities. The target is to have a mixed-ability cohort where half the students have a disability and half do not. Students will participate in a range of formal and informal learning, including an XR development "bootcamp," conversations with XR experts across academia and industry, and presentations on their work progress. Students will work on projects at the intersection of accessibility and XR. Examples of possible projects include designing descriptions that provide overviews of virtual environments for people who are blind and designing effective navigation techniques in a virtual environment, also for people who are blind. The broader impacts of this proposal are two-fold. First, it supports the NSF’s mission of broadening participation by focusing recruitment efforts on students from underrepresented groups, especially students with disabilities. Second, the focus of the research will benefit people with disabilities around the world. As XR becomes an increasingly popular consumer platform, the REU research will help ensure that it provides an equal user experience to people regardless of their disability status.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.