Abstract :
This European expert panel brings together industry and academic leaders to discuss a profoundly new approach to the issue of aircraft passenger comfort for the second half of this century using virtual and mixed reality technologies. With brief presentations from the European Union funded VR-HYPERSPACE consortium we will discuss how fundamental research in virtual embodiment led by Mel Slater at the University of Barcelona, space perception research led by Betty Mohler at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and telepresence led by Bernd Fr??hlich at the Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar is contributing to a paradigm shift in relation to virtual reality positively impacting passenger comfort. This research combined with future visions of virtual and mixed reality technologies developed by the teams above and at the University of Nottingham, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, VTT, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Greece, Thales Alenia Space Italia and EADS Innovation Works, we are investigating the use of positive illusions which enable the passenger to see themselves looking well and feeling more comfortable, believe they have more personal space around them and in the cabin, and carry out activities with and without other people in more comfort.
