Supporting Creativity with Virtual Reality Technology

Abstract

This contribution includes the development and validation of a Virtual Reality (VR) supported creativity technique: “Sensory Stimulus Environment Technique”. Key elements of this technique are the creativity process, a VR tool and the support of the tool (Virtual Creative Environments). The creativity process consists of phases for individual and group-based work. The VR tool “Virtual Creativity” includes functions to support the preparation of Virtual Creative Environments (VCE), the generation and evaluation of new ideas. For the generation of VCE, the tool possesses an environment configurator. Users of this function are supported by Design Rules for VCE.For the validation of the creativity technique, it was used in a product engineering project. The project members procedure two phases of the creativity process (Preparation and Individual Idea Generation) and used “Virtual Creativity” to generate VCEs and ideas to solve their tasks. By questionnaires, functions of “Virtual Creativity” were assessed for generating VCEs and ideas.

An Extended AI-Experience: Industry 5.0 in Creative Product Innovation

“…Members can concentrate on a task with less distractions, hence producing more ideas and novel products [ 48 , 49 ]. VR allows members to focus on the design problem to be solved through enhanced visualisation and therefore allows them to become more present in the discussion [ 44 ].…”

“…Gong et al [ 9 ] merge brainstorming and VR by defining the term virtual brainstorming as a “virtual environment that facilitates the brainstorming process.” It comprises a 3D virtual environment, avatars that represent the members of the team, and brainstorming. Research by Gong et al [ 9 ], Gong and Georgiev [ 43 ], and Graesslar and Taplick [ 44 ] has analysed how creativity in VR can be enhanced. The findings were synthesised into the main elements that affect virtual brainstorming, as described in Figure 3 .…”

“…Hwang et al [ 47 ] claim that there could be a positive correlation between realism and creativity; therefore, realistic interactions would support product ideation. Multi-sensory stimuli involving virtual, tactile, auditory, and olfactory stimuli within the environment could also support the creative process through the positive effect of immersion on users [ 44 ]. The greater the immersion experienced by members, the less distracted members feel which could lead to greater focus and quality ideation [ 48 , 49 ].…”

“…The third element (communication) is vital in virtual environments. If users can choose the communication method that is most appropriate for them, this could motivate members to reach their creativity target [ 44 ]. Tracing, which refers to the real-time capturing of the location and movements of the person within the environment, encourages further expressiveness and enhances communication [ 48 , 49 ].…”

“…The technique is facilitated through artificial neural networks that allow software to capture data based on observations. Implementing movement interactions in VR has proven to be highly beneficial to enhance immersion and presence [ 51 ], emotional engagement [ 31 ] and improve focus [ 44 ]. This proves the potential of such technology for brainstorming scenarios that involves multiple interactions between team members and between humans and virtual elements, which motivates the inclusion of IML for this research.…”