Search Results (968)

The integration of collaborative robots into industrial environments requires rigorous safety validation under the Power and Force Limiting (PFL) regime. This review article systematically maps the technological and normative development of certified Pressure and Force Measurement Devices (PFMDs) and experimental biofidelic instruments for Physical Human–Robot Interaction (pHRI) between the years 2011 and 2026. A quantitative screening of 68 studies revealed a publication peak in impact metrology in 2021. This peak occurred with a five-year latency after the release of the ISO/TS 15066 technical specification. Although global interest in collaborative robotics steadily grows, the publication trend indicates a gradual shift in scientific focus from reactive testing toward proactive prevention. A methodological deconstruction of four Research Questions (RQs) identifies persistent limitations in safety evaluation. The findings demonstrate that the internal structure of conventional sensors induces nonlinear shock filtering and parasitic oscillations (RQ1). Furthermore, the rigid fixation of test stands generates unrealistic pressure spikes. This physical limitation forces a transition to flexible and pendulum-based configurations (RQ2). Commercial flat films physically fail due to sensor saturation and introduced stiffness. Such failures accelerate the development of conformable electronic skins (e-skins) and multimodal test manikins (RQ3). To ensure interlaboratory reproducibility within the current ISO 10218-2:2025 standard, the text defines imperative metrological parameters. These parameters strictly include frequency response, calibration protocols, and volumetric mapping of inertial masses (RQ4). Furthermore, the analysed publications were systematically stratified into distinct technological categories, strictly reflecting their primary engineering domains, ranging from empirical metrological evaluation and sensor hardware design to advanced numerical modeling. Finally, the vision for future research anticipates a definitive shift toward proactive anti-collision technologies, encompassing Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine vision, and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality/Mixed reality (AR/VR/MR). Future methodologies must also consider demographic anisotropies and the cognitive fatigue of the human operator. Full article

The integration of olfactory feedback into Virtual Reality (VR) applications remains significantly underexplored compared with other sensory modalities, particularly within room-scale Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (CAVEs), where related research is even more limited. To address this gap, this paper presents Scentree, a custom olfactory system capable of delivering scents in real time based on user interactions, along with Smelling Ancient Greece, an olfactory-enhanced VR experience developed for integration within our CAVE system. Central to the proposed approach is the concept of the Diegetic Olfactory Feedback Loop, which reframes olfaction from a passive ambient effect into an active, interaction-driven feedback mechanism embedded within the narrative context of the virtual environment. To evaluate the system, we conducted a technical performance assessment and an exploratory user study ($N=51$) examining participant perceptions of immersion, presence, perceived realism, usability, and overall user experience. The findings support the feasibility of interaction-driven olfactory feedback as a multisensory design approach for CAVE environments and provide a foundation for future controlled investigations of olfactory feedback in immersive VR. Full article

Preserving cultural heritage sites requires an interoperable digital framework capable of integrating heterogeneous spatial data and supporting immersive interaction for inspection and management. This study investigates the integration of multiple heritage data representations—including IFC-based Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM), terrestrial and UAV LiDAR point clouds, and 3D Gaussian Splatting reconstructions—into a unified digital management environment for the East Hall (Aula Timur) heritage site within the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) campus. A semantic–spatial interoperability workflow is proposed to harmonize BIM, point cloud, and landscape-scale data within a common georeferenced context, supported by a CityGML-based base map of the surrounding site. An immersive virtual environment was implemented using a head-mounted display to enable walkthrough-based inspection and damage annotation. All datasets were georeferenced within a unified coordinate system, allowing spatial registration between digital objects and the physical heritage site. The results demonstrate that multi-source heritage datasets can be integrated with high geometric accuracy, achieving TLS registration errors of approximately 2 mm and georeferencing residuals within 11.1 cm (horizontal) and 0.95 cm (vertical), while preserving semantic information and ensuring spatial coherence across HBIM, GIS, and immersive environments. The system is implemented in VR, with an architecture designed to support future MR-based on-site annotation and visualization. The proposed framework establishes a foundation for future heritage digital twin deployments and supports informed conservation decisions. Full article

Historic districts are complex built heritage environments where conservation, commercial activities, and public use continuously interact. A key challenge is maintaining cultural meaning and spatial authenticity while meeting contemporary demands for leisure and accessibility. Taking the Fuzimiao–Qinhuai Scenic Belt in Nanjing, China, as a representative case, this study develops a computational mixed-methods framework to evaluate visitor perception and diagnose experiential imbalances in the built heritage environment. A total of 2940 online reviews (2020–2025) were analysed using TF-IDF, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), StructBERT sentiment analysis, and Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA). Six experiential dimensions were identified, covering cultural inheritance, nightscape and leisure, rituals and museum visits, architectural space, value evaluation, and practical services. Results reveal a clear disparity: nightscape and value-related dimensions received the highest attention and positive sentiment, whereas rituals and museum interpretation underperformed despite their central heritage significance. Based on the IPA diagnosis, the study proposes three strategies: reallocating resources from over-supplied services to underperforming cultural cores, integrating immersive digital technologies (VR/AR) to revitalise heritage interpretation, and embedding cultural narratives into nightscape experiences. These strategies support a paradigm shift from visual attraction to cultural resonance in the conservation-oriented regeneration of historic districts. Full article

Virtual reality (VR) is transforming heritage tourism, yet understanding how specific technological attributes drive on-site visitation remains critical for destination marketers and policymakers. Grounded in the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model, this study investigates how VR vividness and interactivity (stimuli) influence perceived usefulness, immersion, ease of use, enjoyment, and certainty (organisms), ultimately shaping users’ on-site visitation intentions and behavioral involvement (responses) regarding Macao’s cultural heritage sites. Analyzing data from 230 users recruited via snowball sampling, the results indicate that the Ruins of St. Paul’s VR experience was the most popular (n = 113), followed by the Macao Museum (n = 95) and the Guia Fortress (n = 75). Structural equation modeling demonstrates that VR vividness and interactivity significantly influence user perceptions, which in turn impact on-site visitation intentions and behavioral involvement, with the sole exception of perceived enjoyment. These findings suggest that the “sense of presence” generated by VR significantly shapes on-site visitation intentions through internal cognitive (perceived usefulness, certainty) and combined cognitive–emotional (perceived immersion) organismic states. Conversely, perceived enjoyment has an insignificant effect on responses, while perceived ease of use, surprisingly, exerts a significant negative impact. The research offers actionable insights for developing immersive digital tools that bridge virtual engagement with tangible cultural heritage tourism in Macao. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and exergame technologies have been increasingly used in dance and movement activities. However, this literature remains dispersed across different areas, making it difficult to determine how the field has developed. This study mapped the research landscape and thematic development of AI-, VR-, and exergame-based dance and movement research on psychological outcomes using bibliometric analysis and latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling. A total of 252 records indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection from 2011 to 2025 were included. Five related thematic strands were identified: immersive dance interaction and technology-supported teaching; rehabilitation-oriented dance or rhythm training; school-based exergaming and psychophysiological assessment; behavioral program design and intervention implementation; and AI-based motion or emotion recognition. These strands indicate that the field has developed into a multi-layered research space shaped by technology functions, movement contexts, intervention formats, and psychological constructs, rather than a single dance-intervention or technology-application domain. At the same time, psychological outcomes were not represented with equal clarity across these strands. Participation-related and psychosocial constructs, including enjoyment, motivation, engagement, self-efficacy, social interaction, emotional expression, and quality of life, were more frequently represented, whereas mental-health-related outcomes such as anxiety, depression, stress, loneliness, and psychological well-being were less consistently connected to technology-supported dance or movement interventions. These findings clarify where evidence is concentrated, how major themes are organized, and where psychological outcome measurement requires clearer theoretical and methodological specification. Future studies should use comparative and longitudinal designs to examine whether VR/AI-based feedback-supported movement training offers added value over conventional dance or movement programs for psychological outcomes, participation, exercise experience, and longer-term behavior change. Full article

This paper presents a workflow-driven VR simulation system for esports event production, designed to enable interaction with core production subsystems, including lighting control, audio management, and broadcast monitoring, within a task-based virtual environment that integrates spatial fidelity, workflow structure, and real-time feedback. A controlled pretest–posttest experiment with 80 undergraduate participants was conducted to evaluate the system in comparison with lecture-based instruction. The results indicate that while both approaches produced comparable gains in conceptual knowledge, the VR-based simulation led to significantly greater improvements in applied operational understanding and higher levels of user engagement. Interaction analytics further show that increased task complexity is associated with higher interaction frequency and lower completion rates, reflecting a trade-off between interaction fidelity and usability. These findings suggest that the effectiveness of VR-based simulation lies in its capacity to support scenario-based operational reasoning rather than conceptual learning alone, contributing to the design of virtual environments for complex workflow-based training. Full article

Fibromyalgia (FM) is associated with altered pain modulation and heterogeneous responses to exercise. Exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH), typically observed in healthy individuals, appears inconsistent in FM. Immersive virtual reality-based exercise (VRBE) may influence pain through cognitive and attentional mechanisms, but its relationship with EIH remains unclear. This study aimed to identify exploratory response patterns based on changes in pressure pain thresholds (ΔPPT) following a single VRBE session and to explore associations with clinical and cognitive variables. A secondary pre–post analysis was conducted in 35 women with FM who completed a standardized VRBE protocol. PPTs were assessed at the trapezius, lumbar region, and knee before and after the intervention. K-means clustering was applied to ΔPPT values, and repeated measures ANOVA evaluated time × cluster interactions. No significant group-level changes in PPT were observed (p ≥ 0.432). Three response patterns were identified: positive responders (17%), negative responders (23%), and non-responders (60%), with significant time × cluster interactions across all sites (p < 0.001). Cognitive function and educational level were associated with ΔPPT but did not predict cluster membership. These findings indicate interindividual variability in EIH responses following VRBE in FM, highlighting the potential relevance of individualized monitoring during VR-based exercise interventions and the need for further investigation of underlying mechanisms. Full article

The efficiency of converting ripe fruits into processed beans is an economically relevant component of Coffea canephora production systems, yet its genetic parameters remain poorly characterized in studies that do not partition the genotype × year (G×Y) interaction. This study estimated genetic parameters for five processing efficiency traits, namely grain proportion (% grain), husk proportion (% husk), fruit fresh mass per grain mass (FWM/GW), fruit fresh mass per bag (FWM/bag), and fruit volume per bag (FVol/bag), in 48 C. canephora genotypes (40 Robusta, 8 Conilon) evaluated over two crop years (2023–2024) in Jaguaré, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Bayesian inference via MCMC (brms) revealed that the genotype × year variance component exceeded the genotypic variance in 79–97% of posterior samples across the 48 genotypes evaluated over two crop years, a result that should be interpreted within the context of this restricted temporal window, with median heritabilities of 0.27–0.50 (95% credible intervals spanning up to 0.66 units, reflecting the uncertainty inherent to the two-year evaluation window) and genotypic correlations of 0.19–0.38 between years, indicating low consistency of genetic merit across crop seasons. Bayesian probability of consistent superiority identified Z21 as the genotype with the highest predictability for FWM/bag (prob. $=0.846$ at 20% selection intensity), while VR3 showed a favorable profile across four traits simultaneously. The multi-trait model with unstructured covariance estimated a negative genetic correlation between % grain and FWM/bag (${\widehat{r}}_g=-0.87$), suggesting potential for indirect selection. UPGMA clustering based on Mahalanobis distance (CCC $=0.813$) yielded six divergence groups that did not coincide with the botanical classification Conilon/Robusta. In this single-location, two-year study, temporal instability was the predominant source of uncertainty in the selection for processing efficiency in C. canephora under restricted evaluation windows. under restricted evaluation windows. Accordingly, the highlighted genotypes should be interpreted as priority candidates for validation in multi-environment, multi-year networks, rather than as definitive cultivar recommendations, given that the short evaluation window limits the generalizability of genotypic rankings. Full article

Background: Menstrual disorders are among the most common health problems faced by young women, yet effective interventions remain limited. Recent evidence has linked endocrine disruptors (EDs) to dysmenorrhea and premenstrual syndrome (PMS), suggesting that reducing exposure may alleviate symptoms. Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of an immersive virtual reality (VR) intervention designed to promote protective behaviors against EDs and to evaluate its longitudinal impact on menstrual pain and PMS among young adult women. Methods: A nonequivalent comparison group pretest and repeated posttest experimental design was applied, using a convenience sample of 30 participants. Guided by the Information–Motivation–Behavioral skills model, the immersive VR intervention incorporated educational content, motivational cues, and avatar-based play experiences to enhance knowledge, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy. The comparison group received a small-group education session. Data were collected at baseline and at 4, 8, 12, and 24 weeks post-baseline. Results: Repeated-measures revealed significant interaction effects between group and time for menstrual pain (F = 2.67, p = 0.039), perceived benefits of protection from ED exposure (F = 4.41, p = 0.003), self-efficacy in reducing ED exposure (F = 5.42, p = 0.001), and protective behaviors against EDs (F = 4.68, p = 0.002). However, the overall group-by-time interaction effect for PMS was not statistically significant (F = 2.05, p = 0.097). Conclusion/Implication for Practice: Immersive VR as part of digital interventions has the potential to transform patient education by enhancing engagement while promoting protective health behaviors and improving associated health outcomes. Future research should explore strategies to improve long-term behavioral adherence and examine whether booster sessions can help sustain the effects of the intervention over time. Full article

Background: Poor adherence and monotony in home-based pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) often lead to suboptimal rehabilitation outcomes. Serious games using virtual reality (VR) may improve training motivation and precision. This study aimed to explore user demands for a VR pelvic floor rehabilitation training system with game-based features. Methods: A Kano model-based questionnaire was developed and distributed to patients receiving PFMT. The survey assessed 20 demand items spanning five dimensions: system operation, exercise guidance, personalization, device use, and interaction. Traditional Kano categorization and an optimized mixed-method classification were used to identify core demand attributes. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction indices were also calculated. Results: A total of 112 valid questionnaires were analyzed. Using the Kano model, 20 demand items were classified as attractive (n = 7), one-dimensional (n = 5), must-be (n = 6), or indifferent (n = 2). Personalization-related demands were mainly identified as attractive attributes, whereas exercise guidance-related demands were primarily classified as must-be or one-dimensional attributes. Satisfaction Index (SI) values ranged from 0.27 to 0.64, and absolute Dissatisfaction Index (DSI) values ranged from 0.34 to 0.71. Optimized Kano analysis identified nine mixed attributes. The questionnaire demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.96). Conclusions: Participants demonstrated positive willingness to adopt a game-based VR system for PFMT, with diverse needs identified across functional and motivational dimensions. These findings suggest that integrating immersive, personalized, and gamified design features may hold promise for enhancing user engagement and anticipated training adherence, though direct evaluation of clinical effectiveness awaits future prototype-based studies. The identified demand priorities provide structured, evidence-informed guidance for the user-centered design of serious game–oriented VR pelvic floor rehabilitation systems. Full article

Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a key technology for immersive human–computer interaction, where sensing systems are essential for enabling natural, adaptive, and multisensory experiences. However, the scientific landscape of sensing techniques in VR remains fragmented across disciplines, lacking a comprehensive and integrative perspective. In this study, a bibliometric and science mapping analysis was conducted to systematically evaluate research trends, structures, and developments in sensing technologies for VR-based human interaction. A dataset of 2259 peer-reviewed articles (2005–2025) retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science was analyzed. The results indicate a steady growth in scientific production (5.37% annual growth rate) and a highly collaborative research environment, structured around a limited core of journals and dominated by leading countries such as China (18.0%) and the United States (17.8%). Conceptual and thematic analyses reveal a transition toward human-centered and interaction-driven approaches, with increasing emphasis on multimodal, wearable, and physiological sensing technologies. At the same time, areas such as haptic and tactile feedback appear comparatively less represented within the analyzed thematic structures. The analyzed bibliometric trends indicate increasing thematic convergence between sensing technologies, materials science, and intelligent systems within VR research, with growing research interest in integrated and multimodal sensing approaches. Full article

This paper adopts an exploratory approach to examine how software configuration, hardware type, user background and context of use influence the usability of Virtual Reality (VR) systems in engineering product development. A VR usability assessment approach that combines two task-based questionnaires, the System Usability Scale (SUS) and the NASA-TLX questionnaire, was evaluated systematically across six experiments involving students, junior engineers and senior engineers in academic and industrial settings. Across the experiments, usability ratings varied depending on user background, task context, hardware configuration, and software implementation. In the observed cases, standalone VR configurations were associated with higher usability ratings among less experienced participants, while PC-based configurations were frequently used in scenarios requiring higher geometric precision and complex engineering interaction. These observations should be interpreted as context-specific findings rather than generalizable causal effects. In addition, professional engineers primarily evaluate VR in terms of workflow integration, precision and return on investment, whereas students focus more on novelty and the interaction experience. Based on these findings, practical design recommendations have been derived for selecting a VR system, adapting interaction concepts, and implementing VR in product development processes. The study does not aim to establish causal relationships, but rather explore usability trends across different contexts as it highlights that VR should not be deployed as a one-size-fits-all solution, but rather as a tool that is both context-specific and user-centered. It also shows how systematic, iterative usability evaluation can directly support the successful industrial integration of VR technologies. Full article

This study investigates how immersive virtual reality (VR) simulations support international postgraduate preservice teachers (PSTs) in preparing for their initial professional experiences in Australian early childhood settings. Positioned within growing concerns about PST readiness, confidence, and cultural adjustment, the study examined the use of VR as a preparatory pedagogical tool. Sixty-six PSTs participated in human-in-the-loop mixed-reality teaching simulations in which they interacted with avatar children aged 3 to 5 in a realistic classroom environment prior to their professional placement. Guided by Bandura’s four sources of self-efficacy, video analysis examined how these simulated experiences contributed to PSTs’ self-efficacy-related practices, decision-making, and cultural readiness. Three themes emerged: (1) a movement from anxiety to relational regulation through social–emotional learning, (2) the use of simulation to bridge the theory–practice gap in classroom management and inclusion, and (3) the role of technology-supported reflection in enabling pedagogical revision through repeatable practice. The findings indicate that the simulation design compressed mastery experiences, modelling, credible feedback, and emotional regulation within a structured learning context. Participants demonstrated opportunities for reflective engagement with classroom dynamics in a low-risk environment before placement, including moments of hesitation, revision, and growing interactional control, highlighting the value of a programme-wide, technology-infused approach to immersive simulation in early childhood initial teacher education. Rather than directly measuring changes in efficacy beliefs, this study shows how mixed-reality rehearsal can operationalise the conditions that support efficacy formation within a repeatable pedagogical environment. In doing so, the paper contributes to current debates on technology-infused teaching by positioning mixed-reality simulation as a coherent model for future-oriented ITE design. Full article

This systematic review examines how Extended Reality (XR) technologies, i.e., Virtual (VR), Augmented (AR), Mixed (MR), and Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR) are designed, implemented, and evaluated in cultural heritage (CH) applications, addressing five research questions: (RQ1) How were XR technologies applied in CH between 2021 and 2025? (RQ2) What interaction paradigms are used, and how do they shape engagement and meaning making? (RQ3) What user experience outcomes are reported in XR CH applications? (RQ4) What evaluation methods are employed and what methodological gaps remain? (RQ5) What challenges persist across XR heritage implementations? Peer-reviewed, English-language studies reporting on implemented XR systems in CH contexts with empirical or evaluative data were included; conceptual articles without a described implementation, non-English publications, and studies published before January 2020 were excluded. Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and the ACM Digital Library were searched for publications dated January 2020 through March 2025, complemented by manual proceedings screening (SIGGRAPH, CHI, IMX, VRCAI) and backward/forward citation tracking. All databases were last searched in March 2025. Two independent researchers screened all records and extracted data; disagreements were resolved through structured discussion. Bias toward positive novelty outcomes was mitigated by including conference proceedings alongside journal articles to broaden the evidence base. A qualitative thematic synthesis was employed, as methodological heterogeneity across studies precluded statistical meta-analysis. Findings were organized inductively into four thematic domains through iterative coding and inter-author consensus. From an initial corpus of 359 records, 287 unique records were retained after deduplication; following title/abstract screening and full-text eligibility assessment, 64 studies were included in the final synthesis. The majority (60/64) were published between 2021 and 2025, with study sample sizes ranging from small expert cohorts (n ≈ 6) to large public deployments (n > 125). The thematic analysis across technology, interaction design, user experience, and evaluation reveals trends toward participatory, multiuser, and multimodal XR designs, reporting benefits including immersion, engagement, learning, and accessibility, alongside recurring challenges such as cost, usability, cybersickness, content authenticity, and lack of longitudinal evaluation. Beyond thematic description, using a cross-domain analytical synthesis, we identify the Design Coherence Framework for XR Heritage (DCF-XR); this is a four-dimensional interpretive model spanning technology, interaction design, user experience, and evaluation, which provides an original diagnostic lens for understanding the conditions under which XR effectively serves cultural heritage goals. A typology of four recurring design failure modes, derived inductively from the corpus, demonstrates that the most persistent shortcomings in the field arise not from the weakness of individual dimensions but from their misalignment with one another. Evidence is limited by the predominance of small convenience samples, single-session laboratory evaluations, and the absence of domain-specific standardized assessment instruments for XR in CH, which constrains the generalizability of reported outcomes. Targeted recommendations for rigorous, ethical, and inclusive XR practice in CH are presented, highlighting the need for longitudinal studies, open datasets, and standardized evaluation frameworks. This review received no external funding. This review was not pre-registered in a prospective register. Full article