Publications by authors named "Alexandra Covaci"

This study compares the influence of a gamified and a non-gamified virtual reality (VR) environment on wheelchair skills training. In specific, the study explores the integration of gamification elements and their influence on wheelchair driving performance in VR-based training. Twenty-two non-disabled participants volunteered for the study, of whom eleven undertook the gamified VR training, and eleven engaged in the non-gamified VR training.

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Omnidirectional videos have become a leading multimedia format for Virtual Reality applications. While live 360 videos offer a unique immersive experience, streaming of omnidirectional content at high resolutions is not always feasible in bandwidth-limited networks. While in the case of flat videos, scaling to lower resolutions works well, 360 video quality is seriously degraded because of the viewing distances involved in head-mounted displays.

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Accurate distance perception and natural interactions are mandatory conditions when training precision aiming tasks in VR. However, many factors specific to virtual environments (VEs) lead to differences in the way users execute a motor task in VR versus the real world. To investigate these differences, the authors performed a study on basketball beginners' free-throw performance in VEs under different visual conditions.

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