The VR Shopping Experience

Vision Fountain has been collbaorating with Merthyr-based charity,  Legacy in the Community to develop an immersive virtual reality shopping experience for people who experience anxiety around shopping, budgeting, or using self-checkout systems.

We have created a framework of immersive VR and 360° video experiences that allow users to practise shopping without physically entering a real retail environment. All experiences are fully portable and run without cables, external CPU’s, Wi-Fi networks or closed networks, enabling use in any supervised setting and making delivery possible across a broad wide range of locations.

Using a Meta Quest 2 and 3 headset in a supervised space, users are placed inside a a virtual beachfront office (that we share with LITC). They can choose between three levels of experience:

1. 360° Convenience Store (Empty Store)
A filmed 360° video of a Cardiff convenience store, allowing users to experince the space without other people present. Includes spatial sound.

2. 360° Convenience Store (With Customers)
The same store filmed during normal use, following customers as they select and purchase items. Also fully immersive with soundscape.

3. Interactive VR Shopping Experience
A fully interactive virtual shop built using a real-time game engine. Users begin outside the shop at an ATM, where they withdraw virtual money and load credit onto a card. Inside the shop, they are instructed to pick up a basket and select items from shelves stocked with everyday goods such as bread, eggs, tomatoes, sandwiches, tinned food, drinks, and sauces.

At the self-checkout (modelled on systems used by Aldi, Lidl, and Tesco), users place the basket on the left, scan items in the centre, and place them in the bagging area on the right. Each item must be individually scanned. Payment is completed by selecting “pay” and scanning the virtual card using the controller. Once payment is complete, items are automatically bagged and the user exits the shop.

The purpose of the VR shop is to allow users to safely practise the full shopping process – from entering the environment to selecting items within a budget and completing a self-checkout transaction – before attempting this in the real world.

Shortly we will be testing the experience with young people that are considered requiring “additional learning needs” and suffer from a broad range of neuro-divergancy.

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Y Siop Rhithwir (The Virtual Reality Shop)

Mae Vision Fountain wedi gweithio gyda phartneriaid gan gynnwys Legacy in the Community i ddatblygu profiad siopa rhithwir trochi ar gyfer pobl sy’n profi pryder ynghylch siopa, cyllidebu, neu ddefnyddio systemau hunan-dalu.

Rydym wedi creu fframwaith o brofiadau VR trochi a fideos 360° sy’n galluogi defnyddwyr i ymarfer siopa heb orfod mynd i mewn i amgylchedd manwerthu go iawn. Mae’r profiadau’n gwbl gludadwy ac yn rhedeg heb geblau na Wi-Fi, gan eu galluogi i’w defnyddio mewn unrhyw leoliad goruchwyliedig ac i’w cyflwyno mewn amrywiaeth eang o leoliadau lle nad yw cysylltedd dibynadwy bob amser ar gael.

Trwy ddefnyddio penwisg Meta Quest 2 mewn lle goruchwyliedig, caiff defnyddwyr eu gosod mewn amgylchedd siopa realistig. Gallant ddewis rhwng tri lefel o brofiad:

1. Siop Gyfleustra 360° (Siop Wag)
Fideo 360° wedi’i ffilmio mewn siop gyfleustra yng Nghaerdydd, gan alluogi defnyddwyr i archwilio’r gofod heb bobl eraill yn bresennol. Yn cynnwys sain ofodol gyflawn.

2. Siop Gyfleustra 360° (Gyda Cwsmeriaid)
Yr un siop wedi’i ffilmio yn ystod defnydd arferol, gan ddilyn cwsmeriaid wrth iddynt ddewis a phrynu eitemau. Yn gwbl drochi gyda sain llawn.

3. Profiad Siopa VR Rhyngweithiol
Siop rithwir ryngweithiol lawn wedi’i hadeiladu mewn peiriant gêm amser real. Mae defnyddwyr yn dechrau y tu allan i’r siop wrth beiriant ATM, lle maent yn tynnu arian rhithwir ac yn llwytho credyd ar gerdyn. Y tu mewn i’r siop, cânt eu cyfarwyddo i godi basged a dewis eitemau o silffoedd sy’n llawn nwyddau bob dydd megis bara, wyau, tomatoau, brechdannau, bwyd tun, diodydd a sawsiau.

Wrth y hunan-daliad (wedi’i fodelu ar systemau Aldi, Lidl a Tesco), mae defnyddwyr yn gosod y fasged ar y chwith, yn sganio eitemau yn y canol, ac yn eu rhoi yn yr ardal bagio ar y dde. Rhaid sganio pob eitem yn unigol. Caiff taliad ei gwblhau drwy ddewis “pay / talu” a sganio’r cerdyn rhithwir gan ddefnyddio’r rheolydd. Ar ôl i’r taliad gwblhau, caiff yr eitemau eu bagio’n awtomatig ac mae’r defnyddiwr yn gadael y siop. Pwrpas y siop VR yw galluogi defnyddwyr i ymarfer y broses siopa gyfan yn ddiogel—o fynd i mewn i’r amgylchedd i ddewis eitemau o fewn cyllideb ac i gwblhau trafodyn hunan-dalu—cyn rhoi cynnig ar hyn yn y byd go iawn.

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