News

The University of Bath VSimulators platform, a unique ‘moving room’ that can simulate the sensation of being inside a mile-high skyscraper or walking across a swaying bridge, has been nominated for an award for its innovative audio-visual set-up.

Research aiming to train people with Parkinson’s to shift their balance and overcome ‘freezing of gait’ (a feeling that one’s feet are stuck to the floor), has received funding from Parkinson’s UK.

Holovis, who design and install world-class immersive experiences, have added further capability and functionality to the University of Exeter’s VSimulator at Exeter Science Park.

The University of Exeter VSimulators team are delighted to announce that a video created by Rowe Films, demonstrating the recently opened and operational commercial and research facility in action, is now available to view.

VSimulators@Exeter and VSimulators@Bath are pleased to announce that they are joining UKCRIC, a UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities, to become a UKCRIC-affiliated facility.

Dr Sharon Dixon and Professor James Brownjohn obtain an Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ICSF) Healthy Ageing Catalyst Award from UK Research and Innovation using VSimulators to research lower limb joint loading for active older adults engaged in sport activities, towards the design of a bespoke sports shoe.

The University of Exeter’s VSimulators team welcomed Mark Wray from the Knowledge Transfer Network to explore the technical capability and potential uses of the multi-disciplinary facility.

The University of Exeter VSimulators team have commissioned Rowe Films to create a video demonstrating the recently opened and operational commercial and research facility in action.

Opportunity to apply for a role as postdoctoral research fellow in human movement and ageing working with leading academics in the University of Exeter VSimulators facility.

The University of Exeter’s VSimulators team at Exeter Science Park hosted a visit by Science Park Chair Nick Ames and the University Registrar Mike Shore-Nye at the facility this week.

A video commissioned by the Arts & Culture Department at University of Exeter to explore and celebrate a year of multi-disciplinary creative collaboration, turning VSimulators human movement data into music.

PhD student Naser Taleshi is using the Exeter VSimulator to explore the balance and control methods used by people standing or walking on moving surfaces.

The Exeter VSimulator facility was used as an evaluation test of a new inertial measurement unit (IMU), developed as part of an EPSRC funded research project by Karen Faulkner. The project involves the development of a new portable data acquisition (DAQ) system for monitoring vulnerable bridge infrastructure during a storm event.

Dr Sigong Zhang and Dr Stana Zivanovic have secured € 225k EU funding to use the VSimulator and Exeter Bridge facilities at Exeter Science Park in researching how people interact with lightweight structures.

University of Exeter PhD student Nimmy Abraham will be using the VSimulator and Exeter Bridge facilities at ExeterScience Park to explore the vibration comfort of a person walking, bobbing and jumping on a vibrating structure.

PHD student Sharareh Ghanbari is using the University of Bath VSimulator to explore the influence that temperature and humidity have on work performance, wellbeing and productivity in office buildings.

PhD student Joao Mineiro has been awarded an EPSRC-funded studentship to explore whether virtual reality can be used in the treatment of chronic pain.

PHD student Kaveh Heshmati travelled to Australia for two weeks to discuss his research on occupant comfort in tall buildings with world-leading expert Prof Kenny Kwok at the University of Sydney, Australia. Kenny is an international authority on the impact of tall-building vibrations.

PhD student, Kaveh Heshmati, has published the first research paper drawing on the use of the VSimulators facility at University of Bath. The paper explores the vibration serviceability assessment criteria and human perception for wind-induced vibrations in tall buildings.

Distinguished guests gathered at Exeter Science Park to participate in a special ceremony, to mark the handover of a new building from Morgan Sindall to University of Exeter. The building will house the pioneering VSimulators multi-disciplinary facility.

Delegates from AKT II visited VSimulators at the University of Bath to experience the full capability of the platform and explore future research collaborations.

Matt Bennion and Paul Ruddick (CEO) from REDS10 visited the Universities of Exeter and Bath to try out the VSimulators facilities, and discuss future collaborations.

Installation of the VSimulator facility at Exeter Science Park is well underway, following a week long operation with multiple project partners to assemble the motion platform.

Dr Mateusz Bocian from the University of Leicester has been awarded £414k for a project to develop a new class of pedestrian structural loading models calibrated with data from in-situ measurements

Experience designer Holovis has devised a bespoke rigging system that retracts and releases the cables powering the virtual reality experience for the University of Exeter’s VSimulator.

Immersive and mixed reality creators Holovis has completed the three initial environments that users will be exposed to in the University of Exeter VSimulator setup being installed at Exeter Science Park.

Experience designer Holovis has completed a crucial part of the University Of Exeter VSimulators setup: successfully incorporating nine users collaboratively in a virtual environment while simultaneously collecting data about their experience.

A moving chamber equipped with virtual reality projection will aid the study of people's reactions to different environments, including swaying skyscrapers and bridges.

The VSimulators team at the University of Bath were pleased to welcome Dr Roy Denoon from CPP Wind Engineering and Air Quality Consultants. Dr Denoon is an industry-leading specialist in wind engineering for tall buildings.

The VSimulators team from the University of Exeter recently went to E2M Technologies in Amsterdam to put the facility’s finely tuned motion platform through its paces.

After two years of design, followed by manufacture and assembly of the component parts, the VSimulators platform at E2M Technologies at Amsterdam is switched on to perform its first moves...

In The Netherlands, the VSimulators motion platform has been constructed to our exacting specifications by E2M and Holovis, ready for factory acceptance testing.

Construction of the building for the University of Exeter VSimulators research facility is rapidly progressing and, in recent weeks, the project has reached key milestones. Factory acceptance testing in Amsterdam will take place imminently, before delivery of the equipment and installation into the University of Exeter Engineering Research Centre.

The installation of the unique VSimulators facility at the University of Bath is nearing completion, enabling multi-disciplinary research into human responses to the built environment, focusing on people’s health, wellbeing and productivity. VSimulators will combine a motion platform, environmental control chamber and projected virtual reality.

A turf-cutting ceremony marked the start of construction of the University of Exeter’s pioneering VSimulators - a state-of-the-art, world class facility, combining virtual reality for up to nine occupants with a sophisticated motion platform.

Plans for a major new centre for research and development in the vibration engineering sector are in the final stages of development at the Universities of Exeter and Bath.

The University of Exeter and the Vibration Engineering Section (VES) welcomed Heather Macklyne, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Portfolio Manager, with responsibility for Ground Engineering, Structural Engineering, Built Environment, Infrastructure and Urban Systems.

Vibration Engineering staff led by Professor James Brownjohn have been awarded a £3.25m grant by the EPSRC to create a new simulator facility for study of interactions between people and the moving built environment.

The impact of vibrations from very tall buildings and wobbly bridges and floors on people’s health and wellbeing is to be researched in a new £7.2 million government-funded national research facility.

The Telegraph news article publicising EPSRC funding for the Universities of Exeter, Bath and Leicester to build the VSimulators facilities to research the impact of motion in buildings on occupant health and productivity.