For my Graduation at Saxion University of Applied Sciences, I had to complete an internship in the last semester of the last year of study. After being invited to work for Alzheimersvrijwilligers & Alzheimer Nederlands by a group of students affiliated, I have accepted, to be able to achieve value in the real world with my VR expertise.

The Team:

• 2 Artists (Andreea Nan & Presiyan Velev)
• 2 Designers (Ana Similiac & Toma Ciobotenco)
• 1 Engineer (Me)

The aim of this project was to raise awareness about people with dementia and increase empathy towards them, by making the user interact with a virtual person afflicted. Starting the simulation outside the house, the user interactively becomes familiar with the controls and the context of the visit, before the Character called "Juliette" opens the door and invites them inside. After sitting down on a chair, they get a chance to have a conversation and get to know her, by asking any question using their voice. The character itself is powered by AI, and was tailored for this specific scenario.

As I was the only engineer in this group project, I had the opportunity to work on various tasks. All the main implementations were developed and implemented by me, namely:

• Core VR Interactions
  • Locomotion (Snap & Smooth Movement)
  • Compatibility for both Controllers & Free-Hands
  • Physics Behaviour (Hands & Objects)
• UI Functionality & VR Compatibility
• Scripts & Managers easily accessible for other Team Members
• Character Implementations
  • AI Logic for Conversations (STT, LLM, TTS)
  • Lip Synchronization using Visemes
  • Character Motions (Eye Behaviour, Breathing, Emotions)
• Post-Processing Manager to reflect different Moods (tied to AI response)
• Story Implementation
• Proper Documentation for continued development by a new Team

This final project of my bachelor's study has helped me prove my independence, professionality, and expertise using innovative technology.

The workflow was kept clean and well documented, using Git for managing different versions and contributions. Whenever conflicts emerged, these were swiftly fixed through communication and applying preventetive principles.

After coming back to Unity from using other Engines for a long time, I was quickly able to research and adapt once more, making various features work as desired. Time constraints were also kept in mind, adapting design choices, features, and technical details based on what was feasible. Additionally, appropriate amount of testing was conducted, to be able to iterate through implementations, based on the feedback received.

In conclusion, innovative technology was used to meet the clients request, while preparing everything to encourage further development of the project. The final presentation made great impressions, and the project itself ended up being something I am very proud of to have worked on and be able to show for my Graduation.

The Poster below, which I created for the Graduation showcase, summarizes this as well.