Seven companies have joined forces to create a platform that aims to understand how the human mind works and processes information while watching television. Using a virtual reality (VR) headset along with an array of sensors, the creators hope to gain an insight into human behaviour and responses using the new platform, dubbed ‘VR on air test’.
According to Creative Director of one of the companies, Takayuki Yoshizawa of AOI Pro Inc. the idea came together after researchers realised users found monitoring equipment to be less intrusive when they were already wearing a VR headset. Yoshizawa told The Drum: “We originally had the idea of collecting data independently, building a platform and monetising it. If we could then use that data to understand their emotions, we could create a data set that could be used for business purposes as well.”
The more controlled environment of VR creates advantages for this kind of tracking study, as Yoshizawa noted: “EEG requires a controlled environment to avoid disruption (e.g., users getting distracted by the TV or furnishings around them). In the case of eye tracking, the distance between the user and the screen prevents precise measurement of exactly what object the user is viewing. In contrast, with VR, we can easily create a controlled environment.”
Companies are already looking at creating tools to utilise the data collected by the platform, and the companies involved are wanting to involve industries such as healthcare, education and entertainment.
“By combining a picture of a user’s emotional state (derived from “sensor-based data”) with data from traditional digital marketing tools (such as browsing history and cookies), the platform can be used to create and build businesses that match human emotions.,” Yoshizawa said, “In the future, we will expand and diversify the sources and volume of data that we handle in order to grow and enhance our service offerings.”
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