Funded projects and programs

European Funds – Smart Growth; Republic of Poland; National Centre for Research and Development; European Union – European Regional Development FundFundusze Europejskie – Inteligentny Rozwój; Rzeczpospolita Polska; Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju; Unia Europejska – Europejski Fundusz Rozwoju Regionalnego.

National Centre for Research and Development

Rendering of a freestanding VR system with a six-degree-of-freedom headset suspended from a metal frame beside a display.
Wizualizacja wolnostojącego systemu VR z goglami o sześciu stopniach swobody, zawieszonymi na metalowej konstrukcji obok ekranu.

NATIONAL CENTRE FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Project title: "Development of a freestanding, built-in, VR virtual reality projection system permanently connected to six degrees of freedom goggles."

Grant agreement no. POIR.01.01.01-00-0785/20-00

Project synopsis:

The project developed a free-standing, integrated virtual reality projection system with a permanently connected six-degrees-of-freedom headset. The system is designed for unattended use in public facilities and for people without specialist training, including users with certain disabilities. Within a limited physical area, it maps movement across a much larger virtual space, potentially covering thousands of square meters. This space-scaling approach removes the need for dedicated hand controllers, treadmills, mats, or similar locomotion devices.

The project was divided into five stages. Stages 1 and 2 covered industrial research, stages 3 and 4 covered experimental development, and stage 5 covered pre-implementation work.

Stage 1 focused on mapping physical space into virtual space while reducing the range of physical movement and controller input required by existing technology. This stage produced original algorithms and software components for the VR system.

Stage 2 covered the development of the mechatronic system that serves as the VR system's hardware platform. The team built a laboratory prototype and conducted internal tests.

Stage 3 focused on developing the headset and integrating it with the software so that people without specialist training can use it easily. The integrated headset provided at least the functionality of a conventional headset while allowing users to navigate the virtual environment without covering an equivalent physical distance or using additional controllers.

Stage 4 consisted of an experiment comparing the device with existing headset-and-controller systems in terms of selected psychological, physiological, and ergonomic variables. The experiment tested the project's research hypotheses.

The pre-implementation stage included a market analysis. It assessed market size based on institutional budgets and visitor numbers, as well as demand for related services, including VR content production.

Project implementation period: March 1, 2021 – March 31, 2023

Total project cost: PLN 4,868,207.75

European Funds contribution: PLN 3,700,201.31

The project was co-financed by the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund under the Intelligent Development Programme. The project was implemented under the competition National Centre for Research and Development: 1/1.1.1/2020 Fast Track 1_2020.