Hands-On Virtual Body Weight - Hand-Controlled Virtual Body Weight Manipulation in VR

Open Human-Computer Interaction Bachelor Master Project Thesis No Affiliation

Motivation

Obesity is a serious disease that impacts both physical and psychological wellbeing. Weight stigmatization often leads to body image disturbances, causing distorted self-perception and negative body evaluation (WHO, 2019). Beyond traditional interventions like mirror exposure, recent approaches incorporate VR-based embodiment of visually altered virtual bodies (avatars) to enhance body image treatments. A huge advantage when using advanced body weight modification methods is that the avatar’s body weight can be realistically changed to a desired numeric reference value (Döllinger et al., 2022; Thaler et al., 2018; Wolf et al., 2020). In previous work, real-time body weight modification was conducted using VR controllers (Döllinger et al., 2022). But what difference does it make if users can directly manipulate the virtual body with their (virtual) hands?

Goal

The project aims to extend current body weight manipulation methods using VR controllers by allowing users to adjust the virtual avatar’s body weight with their own hands without the use of controllers. This new method should be implemented using existing developments and the Meta SDK in Unity. A subsequent study should compare the new method with the previous ones in terms of user experience (UX), virtual body awareness, and body weight perception.

Tasks

The topic will focus on the following tasks:

• Literatur and state-of-the-art research
• Integration of a new virtual body weight modification technique in Unity by using the bare hands and the Meta SDKs
• Study conduction
• Evaluation and presentation of results

Prerequisits

• Experience with Unity game engine
• Basic knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods

Literature

1. Döllinger N, Wolf E, Mal D, Wenninger S, Botsch M, Latoschik ME and Wienrich C (2022), Resize Me! Exploring the user experience of embodied realistic modulatable avatars for body image intervention in virtual reality. Front. Virtual Real. 3:935449. doi: 10.3389/frvir.2022.935449
2. haler, A., Geuss, M. N., Mölbert, S. C., Giel, K. E., Streuber, S., Romero, J., et al. (2018a). Body size estimation of self and others in females varying in BMI. PLOS ONE 13, e0192152. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0192152
3. Wolf, E., Döllinger, N., Mal, D., Wienrich, C., Botsch, M., and Latoschik, M. E. (2020). Body weight perception of females using photorealistic avatars in virtual and augmented reality, in 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (New York, NY: IEEE), 583–594. doi:10.1109/ISMAR50242.2020.00071
4. World Health Organization (2019). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems. 11th ed. Lyon, France: World Health Organization.

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