Vision
We are exploring scientific, clinical and aesthetic applications of this technology along with some basic computer science issues in visualization and image creation, replay and stabilization.
Computation
The LEL uses advanced computer technologies such as a six-sided CAVETM to create and simulate spaces. We also study the variety of interfaces as well as create new interfaces through which one may interact with virtual environments.
Spaces
Different spaces effect how people act within them. The LEL utilizes a six-sided CAVETM to simulate spaces such as a bathroom, kitchen, and operating room. The LEL has also experimented with the application of environments on unfamiliar scales such as molecules or an entire galaxy.
Behavior
By studying and understanding behaviors, researchers can discover clues to improving health. At the LEL researchers are able to observe behaviors within different types of environments. Understanding trends in human behavior helps researchers to design devices that facilitate healthy habits.
Design
Access to a wide variety of environments and greater understanding of human behavior within those environments will lead to innovative healthcare device design. The design process will also be accelerated through the testing of devices in a six-sided CAVETM. Ultimately, devices designed in the LEL will be utilized in real home environments to improve and supplement healthcare behaviors.
Purpose
The purpose of the Living Environments Laboratory is to enhance the understanding of human behavior and interactions in order to fuel innovation in design technologies. The LEL will allow researchers to develop and test these technologies in a simulated living environment, which provides a platform for understanding the performance of these devices and processes within their context of use instead of testing them in an isolated laboratory. The challenges the LEL seeks to solve are of an interdisciplinary nature, requiring collaboration of individuals from the nursing, biomedical engineering, and computer sciences fields and beyond.
Goals
The research in the Living Environments Laboratory works towards three main goals: advancing the science of virtual reality, advancing the art and science of design and creating innovative home care technology. To advance the art and science of design, researchers focus on how the environments in which personal care technologies are used should inform the design process. This involves understanding how the context of an environment affects the quality of the personal care an individual can provide him or herself. Researchers discover the aspects of environments that provide clues to an individuals’ health, use information and computation technologies to gather this health care data, and apply trends to device design. Researchers also study the differences in human behavior in realistic versus stimulated settings. This helps to stimulate the design of innovative home care technologies by providing a variety of spaces in which researchers can observe human behavior and home care technologies may be imagined and tested.
Who is involved?
The Living Environments Laboratory at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery is lead by Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD. She has led interdisciplinary teams engaged in the design, deployment, and evaluation of personal care technologies for over 25 years. Collaborators from fields as diverse as Library and Information Studies, Kinesiology and Human Ecology may form connections with the LEL, which will expand and strengthen research goals. By fostering collaboration and facilitating consideration of issues unique to home and community environments, the Living Environments Laboratory will accelerate design, development, and deployment of personal health technology innovations to improve human health.
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