UNSW Sim Antarctic Project: Developing VR Immersive Experience
VR Design • Immersive Experience • Interaction Design
Project Overview
This project, a collaboration between UNSW LITEroom and the UNSW Medical Team, aims to develop a VR medical simulation for mass trauma scenarios on a ship in the Antarctic. It is designed to train medical students in evaluating, triaging, communicating, and treating patients in a large-scale trauma setting.
Role
Immersive Design
Scenario Design
Interaction Design & Development
Collaboration with other teams
Team
Collaborated with cross-functional teams, including the UNSW LITEroom, the UNSW Medical team, and my team (MSIT)
Duration
Mar – Jul 2024 (within an ongoing project, Nov 2023 – expected 2025)
Tools
Unity, Miro
Task 1 : Designing the Triage Flow
My first task was to design and develop an immersive triage process within the VR simulation. This flow enables medical students to assess and prioritize patients during a mass trauma event on an Antarctic ship.
Challenges
✦ Medical Complexity
The triage logic had to align with real-world clinical guidelines and accurately reflect trauma assessment protocols, which required extensive research and consultation with the medical team.
✦ Immersive Translation
Translating a high-stakes, fast-paced clinical workflow into an interactive and intuitive VR experience demanded careful consideration of user perception, cognitive load, and spatial interaction design.
Delivered Outcome
Unexpected Challenge: Developer Feedback
Design-to-Development Gap
While the triage flow was well-received in terms of clinical logic and immersive design, we encountered an unexpected challenge during developer handoff.
The developer team raised concerns that:
The scenario focused only on the ideal (correct) user path.
It lacked a comprehensive structure accounting for alternative and incorrect user actions.
The documentation did not provide sufficient technical detail for implementation.
This feedback highlighted a gap between design intention and development needs, prompting us to rethink how interaction logic and scenario detail should be documented for collaboration.
Solution: Developer-Focused Revision
To resolve the issue, I communicated directly with developers to clarify their needs, then created a developer-ready version of the triage flow. It included detailed logic paths, alternative user actions, and clear annotations, ensuring smoother implementation.
Task 2: Interactive Actions Design & Development
For one of the patient cases I was responsible for, I designed a key medical interaction and initiated its prototype development in Unity.
Develop Process
01
Facial Expression Function Test
02
Character Model Design
03
Character Facial Expression Design and Develop
04
Character Body Action Design and Develop
05
Pressed / Checked Gesture Trigger Test
06
Pain Level Value System Develop
07
Combine pieces together