TECHNOLOGY

Technology

Setup

The Xenodu platform uses state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and novel interactive technologies to allow participants to view a life-size projection of themselves interacting with photorealistic virtual environments played in real-time on a screen in front of them.

The technology setup comprises of a video camera linked to a computer which feeds to a large screen display fitted inside a custom-designed booth.

The participant enters the booth and is filmed by the camera as they face the screen, with visual effects technology being used to extract the image of the participant from their background and superimpose it onto the interactive virtual environments.

The combined image is then displayed on the screen in front of the participant which offers them a unique 'out-of-body' perspective from which to simultaneously experience and observe their interactions with the virtual environments, whilst also recording their interactions for review and discussion.

The Technology Setup

'Out-Of-Body' Virtual Experiences

The 'self-observational' view offered by the Xenodu platform has been identified in research studies as being similar to an "out-of-body experience" and as an innovative approach to virtual reality (VR) is attracting interest for its potential to assist in personal and social skills development.

This ongoing research has investigated whether therapies for anger management, social anxiety and intellectual disabilities can be assisted to help patients overcome their fears and learn appropriate social skills by viewing themselves taking part in a range of virtual scenarios.

BBC News - Virtual environments
help treat offenders.

"The feeling of an ‘‘out-of-body experience’’ or depersonalization while using this novel VE system deserves further study as it differs from the first-person perspective of conventional VR systems (watching the environment through goggles) and from the vicarious experience of computer games (identifying with a small avatar on the screen)".
Gega L. et al. 2013, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

Research Publications

The latest research shown below has found that people with social anxiety and intellectual disabilities can be helped to overcome their fears and learn appropriate social skills by using our platform to experience and observe themselves taking part in a range of virtual scenarios;

The Psychology of Social Networking Vol. 2 - Virtual Environments With Chroma-Keying Video Capture In Psychological Therapy (Gega L. et al. 2015)

A Comprehensive Cognitive Behavioral Program for Offenders - Trying and Practicing in Virtual Immersion (Langdon P. et al. 2015)

A Video-based Virtual Environment for Teaching Social Skills to Adolescents with Autism: In Search of Generalisation (Barry O. 2015)

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking - Virtual Environments Using Video Capture for Social Phobia with Psychosis (Gega L. et al. 2013)

Read more about research here.

The 'Rubber Hand Illusion'

In 1998, Neuroscientists Botvinick & Cohen were conducting research into how sight, touch and 'proprioception' (the sense of body position) combine to create a convincing feeling of body ownership, one of the foundations of self-consciousness.

Through this research they discovered an amazing illusion which could convince people that a rubber hand was their own.

The now-famous 'rubber hand illusion' was hugely important in understanding how bodily self-consciousness is anchored in both visual and tactile senses to create a sense of self-location and self-identification.

A group of Neuroscientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have since extended the 'rubber hand illusion' to create a 'virtual out-of-body experience' using cameras to fool people into thinking they are standing somewhere else in a room.

The Xenodu platform builds on this approach by adding interactive virtual environments to the 'self-observational' view, which like the 'rubber hand illusion' is frequently described by participants as being ‘‘weird’’ or ‘‘surreal’’, to offer a unique opportunity for experiential learning and therapy.

Link to EPFL Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience - lnco.epfl.ch

'Rubber Hand Illusion' Video used courtesy of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)

'Virtual Out-of-Body Experience' Video used courtesy of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)