Virtual Reality for Users with Limited Mobility: A Microsoft Research Study
Imagine if there was a way to allow people with movement disabilities to be able to use virtual reality? Well, that’s what Microsoft is currently working on.
Microsoft Research is a research lab where computer scientists, physicists, engineers, and mathematicians work to accelerate scientific discovery and technological innovation. The main campus is located in Redmond, Washington, but there are many other research labs located in other areas of the world such as Shanghai, India, Cambridge, Amsterdam, etc. The research focuses on areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, systems & networking, security, privacy, Human-Computer Interaction, and wearable technologies.
One of the projects that the Microsoft Research lab is working on is making Virtual Reality accessible for people with limited mobility. VR is a growing technology that allows users to immerse themselves anywhere they please in the comfort of their own homes. While it used to be a system that was mainly for fun, with the COVID-19 pandemic, it moved from being a luxury to a critical technology as it now allows users to work and socialize while being away from each other. Microsoft saw this as a beneficial opportunity to help advance the technology for people with underlying health conditions, like movement disorders, to be able to use.
To address this issue, Microsoft incorporated a design approach called ability-based design, which questions the human abilities required to operate an interactive system and allows systems to adapt to alternative abilities. In the past, you might have seen studies where people use virtual reality to empathize and understand what it’s like to be in a person with a disability’s shoes. However, you never see it the other way around; virtual reality has an accessibility problem. It’s been coined an “empathy machine” that allows users to see what it’s like to have a disability, but people with disabilities often can’t use it.
So in order to understand how to fix this issue, Microsoft conducted a research study where they interviewed sixteen people with limited mobility about their experiences with VR. That way, they could understand the challenges that these people encountered and what suggestions they might have to improve VR systems.
From these interviews, Microsoft concluded that there were seven VR constraints for people with limited mobility:
Setting up a VR system
Seven participants explained how difficult it was for them to plug stuff into a computer or put batteries into the controllers. Oftentimes, they need to ask someone for help setting it up for them to use.
Putting on and Taking off VR HMDs/Adjusting the HMD Head Strap
Similar to setting up the VR system, participants had trouble getting the headset itself onto their heads due to its heavy weight. They suggested making the headset lighter so that it would only take one hand to put on. In terms of adjusting the strap, they had trouble reaching the adjustment knob located on the back of the headset, so they suggested that putting it near the front or on the side would help them reach it.
Cord Management
Since many VR systems require users to connect their headset to a USB or display port on their computers. For the participants in wheelchairs, their concern was rolling over the power cord and getting it tangled up. Participants with balance issues were concerned with tripping and falling over the cord. The obvious solution suggested was to make the headset wireless so that they can safely interact with the system.
Manipulating Dual Motion Controllers
Nine participants had concerns about the two motion controllers used to interact in VR. Since they can only use one hand most of the time, they can only hold and use one controller. Even those who can use both of their hands expressed concern about how difficult it was to use the system. Some tasks in VR, such as rotating and scaling objects, require users to coordinate moving both controllers at the same time and some participants are not that good at using both hands simultaneously.
Inaccessible Buttons
Other participants had challenges with reaching, pressing, and holding down buttons on the controllers. To be able to move forward in VR, the participant has to press and hold down a joystick, but their small hands and dexterity issues made it hard to do so.
Maintaining View of the Controllers
VR systems track the positions of their controllers. In order to track them, they have to be in view of the headset. This allows users to be to see where they are in the virtual environment. Participants found this concerning as it requires them to keep their hands extended for long periods of time, which most can’t do.
From this study, researchers took into account the feedback they received from these participants and have since worked to develop new techniques for virtual reality. In October of 2021, Microsoft proposed Nearmi, a framework where designers can create accessible point-of-interest (POI) techniques in virtual reality.
These POIs are represented as cues to signal their existence in a virtual environment. They are then presented on a display, which is essentially a canvas for the arrangement and presentation of POIs. The selection of these POIs involves using gesture, sound, or eye movement. Once the POI is selected, the display transitions to that POI. Basically, the user in a virtual environment is presented with a bunch of point-of-interests in front of them. In order to select one, instead of having to press any buttons, they can simply gesture to it, make a sound, or move their eyes in that direction and they are reoriented to that POI.
Overall, while Nearmi is still in the works, I believe that it will be a revolutionary advancement for the virtual reality system as it would now allow accessibility to an additional demographic as well.
