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Design and Development of a VR Serious Game for Chemical Laboratory Safety

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Games and Learning Alliance (GALA 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 13134))

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Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) technologies are becoming more and more popular, not only as a gaming console, but also as a viable training tool. Especially for health and safety training programmes, VR can be very useful to train people in dangerous environments and situations without imposing real danger on them or others. Chemical laboratories are environments where risks of severe injury or even fatality are always present. For this, we developed a VR serious game, called VR LaboSafe Game, as a tool for laboratory safety training. However, designing a VR serious game is a challenging task. There are many factors to consider for an optimal game design. In this study, we discuss important design considerations and we present the game design of VR LaboSafe Game. Preliminary tests of an early version of the game show usability issues and minor discomforting symptoms for some participants. Nevertheless, participants do agree that VR LaboSafe Game is useful for learning laboratory safety; is more active and responsive in their learning process and makes safety training more engaging.

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Acknowledgements

This project has received funding from the European Union's EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under Grant Agreement 812716. This publication reflects only the authors’ view exempting the community from any liability. Project website: https://charming-etn.eu/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherche Rhône-Alpes (CRRA), Arkema France, Rue Henri Moissan, 69310, Pierre-Bénite, France

    Philippe Chan

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F (box 2424), 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Tom Van Gerven & Kristel Bernaerts

  3. Corporate R&D, Arkema France, 420 Rue d’Estienne d’Orves, 92705, Colombes, France

    Jean-Luc Dubois

Authors
  1. Philippe Chan
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  2. Tom Van Gerven
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  3. Jean-Luc Dubois
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  4. Kristel Bernaerts
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philippe Chan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NATO STO, La Spezia, Italy

    Francesca de Rosa

  2. Le Mans University, Le Mans Cedex 9, France

    Iza Marfisi Schottman

  3. HPU, Royal Institute of Technology, Södertälje, Stockholms Län, Sweden

    Jannicke Baalsrud Hauge

  4. University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Francesco Bellotti

  5. Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland

    Pierpaolo Dondio

  6. Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France

    Margarida Romero

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Chan, P., Van Gerven, T., Dubois, JL., Bernaerts, K. (2021). Design and Development of a VR Serious Game for Chemical Laboratory Safety. In: de Rosa, F., Marfisi Schottman, I., Baalsrud Hauge, J., Bellotti, F., Dondio, P., Romero, M. (eds) Games and Learning Alliance. GALA 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13134. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92182-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92182-8_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-92181-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-92182-8

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