Us Xtended - Tracking and Sensing through Embedded and Embodied Design in Virtual Reality

This short paper presents an embodied and embedded design method via biometric data tracking on the example of the virtual reality prototype Us Xtended. Users are taken through different immersive worlds and their task is to manipulate the environments via a certain type of physiological interaction (i.e. heart rate, gaze, voice, cognitive load). By employing biofeedback, the system tailors the immersive environment via audiovisual and haptic stimuli to user’s psycho-physiological responses and reflects them on its scale which is part of the virtual environment. By recording their voice, users can self-assess their own affects. In the finale, users stand in a pastiche-like world filled with different artifacts of psycho-physiological evaluations they co-created with the biofeedback system throughout their journey.