Week 3/31 - 4/7

Video Demonstration #2

Poisoned Effect Demonstration

This week, we solidified the idea for our product further and made significant progress in implementing some features for the training scenarios. 

We began by implementing an interaction system, which includes two pointers coming out of the VR controllers. If the corresponding trigger is pressed while a pointer is touching an interactable object, this will trigger the interaction attached to that object. We used this system mainly for the eye wash fountain activation button. We also got started implementing the fire extinguisher. We chose not to use the same interaction system since we wanted the player to be holding the fire extinguisher when using it. We instead used event dispatchers from the player pawn to detect when the trigger is pressed down and released. The first press activates the fire extinguisher, which continues to spray until the trigger is released.

Continuing our exploration of the Niagara system from last week, we implemented a way to pour liquid from one flask into another, and how to track the amount of liquid left in each one. Our vision for this task is that while doing this, the user will get something in their eye and have to use the eyewash. To signal that there is something in their eyes, the user’s vision will have a blur effect applied to it, which we demonstrated in this week’s video. By including this event, we expect that the user will develop the instinct to immediately head to the nearest eyewash station whenever experiencing eye contamination conducting real life lab experiments.

Our website has undergone several updates. We added a pricing section, with volume discounts for institutions looking to use our training software. Also in the financial sustainability area, we added a funding and grants section where we explain the funding sources we are currently pursuing. To make our goals and features more clear, we added a features section which outlines the product’s capabilities. Finally, we added a section further marketing our product and explaining exactly how our simulation addresses opportunities in lab safety education.