Abstract:
Virtual environments are highly interactive, computer-simulated environments where
users interact in 3D spaces to perform complex tasks using diverse 3D interaction techniques
and devices. The complexity of 3D interaction in virtual environments may
hinder user interaction and influence user performance. User interaction in virtual environments
may also be restrained by the variety between the users due to the different
user characteristics, which are seldom taken into account when designing virtual environments.
This dissertation is motivated by our belief that providing adaptivity in
virtual environments is a Significant key to enhance user interaction and accommodate
user diversity. Our research is directed to strive for the integration of adaptivity
into virtual environments and investigate to what extent the integrated adaptivity can
enhance natural and intuitive user interaction.
The first part of this dissertation is dedicated to investigate adaptation in virtual environments
in general since it has not been extensively explored in any previous research.
We present an overview of adaptation in virtual environments including several
types of adaptation that can be provided and a research framework to enable the
integration of such adaptation. A number of formal experiments show that integrating
adaptation in a virtual environment leads to improved interaction, performance
increase, frustration decrease and positive appreciation from the users.
The second part of this dissertation focuses in exploring adaptivity in virtual environments
specifically designed for upper-limb rehabilitation of people with Multiple
Sclerosis (MS). The user studies carried out with MS patients demonstrate the potential
benefits of providing an adaptive personalized training in their rehabilitation.
We hope that a contemplation on this dissertation would increase a conscious awareness
of designers and developers of virtual environments towards the user diversity
and the necessity of integrating adaptivity to enhance user interaction.
