Risk Assessment Using Virtual Reality Technology - Effects of Subjective Experience

计划中的基于虚拟现实(VR)的风险评估方法将允许在产品开发过程的非常早期阶段仅基于数字数据进行全面风险评估(RA)。在这种情况下，可以推测，通过使用虚拟现实，主观经验的影响将变得更加重要，就像它已经对传统的风险评估一样。因此，评估基于VR的RA时主观体验的影响是本项目的首要目标。因此，有必要开发一种基于VR的RA的方法。作为该方法的一部分，必须建立创建VR模型、与VR环境交互以及整合和使用附加信息的概念。关于VR模型创建的主要焦点是从CAD到VR的数据转换和危险因素(HF)的可视化。在发展了上述概念之后，必须创建基于虚拟现实的虚拟现实的实施说明。同时，将根据现有的关于虚拟环境中技术对象的感知的知识开发调查问卷。必须考虑更复杂的可视化内容以及关注识别HF的项目等方面。此外，有必要仅将心理调查问卷，即衡量受试者风险倾向的问卷，与衡量临场感和解释可视化的对象特征的问卷结合起来。这些调查问卷将用于用户测试，以评估感知的各个方面，即在VR中对HF的识别和评估。此外，还将进行测试，以评估临场感的影响以及个人人格特征对RA质量的影响。参与者将是RA(工业安全专家、设计师)方面的专家，并将被要求使用预定义的方法在五面洞穴内执行VR支持的RA。为了加深对主观体验影响的了解，增加了第二个研究方面，即危险情况的可视化。在这里，用户测试的目标是评估在不同危险情况下的行为反应。因此，必须开发一种模拟和可视化这种危险情况的方法，并创建相应的调查工具。这两个用户测试的结果将用于改进VR支持的风险评估方法。此外，还将揭示现实和虚拟现实之间感知差异的可能原因。

The planned Virtual Reality (VR)-based risk assessment method will allow conducting full risk assessments (RA) based solely on digital data at a very early stage in the product development process. In this context it is conjecturable that by using VR the influence of subjective experience will become more important as it already is for the conventional risk assessment. Therefore the evaluation of the influences of subjective experience when conducting a VR-based RA is the primary goal of the project.Therefore it is necessary to develop a method for the VR-based RA. As part of this method, concepts for the creation of the VR model, for the interaction with the VR environment as well as for the integration and usage of additional information have to be established. The main focus regarding the creation of the VR models are the data conversion from CAD to VR and the visualization of hazard factors (HF). After developing those concepts mentioned above, an instruction for the conduction of the VR-based RA has to be created.In parallel, survey questionnaires will be developed based on existing knowledge on perception of technical objects in virtual environments. Aspects like more complex visualization contents as well as the project focus on recognizing HF have to be considered. In addition it is necessary to combine merely psychological survey questionnaires, i.e. questionnaires that measure the risk tendency of the test person, with questionnaires that measure the sense of presence and account for object characteristics of the visualization. Those survey questionnaires will be used in user tests to evaluate aspects of perception, i.e. recognition and assessment of HF in VR. Furthermore tests will be conducted to assess the influence of the sense of presence as well as the impact of individual personality traits on the quality of the RA. Participants will be experts in RA (Industrial Safety Specialists, Designers) and will be asked to execute a VR-supported RA inside a 5-sided CAVE using the predefined methods.To deepen the knowledge about the influence of subjective experience, a second research aspect, the visualization of hazardous situations, is added. Here, the user tests target the evaluation of behavioral reactions in different hazardous situations. Thus a method to simulate and visualize such hazardous situations has to be developed and corresponding survey instruments have to be created.The results from both user tests will be used to improve the method of VR-supported risk assessment. In addition possible reasons for perception differences between reality and virtual reality will be evinced.