Hallo! I’m starting my fourth week in Oldenburg. Last week, I really enjoyed going deeper into my project, which involves finding out whether gesture-based interactions between pedestrians and autonomous vehicles makes pedestrians feel safer and more in-control in jaywalking situations. Most research on interactions between pedestrians and autonomous vehicles gives the vehicles all of the control and study scenarios usually involve crosswalks, so I’m excited to see how pedestrians behave in virtual reality when given the opportunity to directly communicate with self-driving cars.
So far I’ve learned how to incorporate the Myo Gesture Control Armband into my Unity project, built a 3D city scene, read a lot of papers about communication between pedestrians and autonomous vehicles, and discussed my goals for the project with Sebastian and Andreas, two PhD students at the university here. I’ve really enjoyed hearing about the projects that they’re working on and getting to see what it’s like to be a PhD candidate. Right now my biggest challenge is animating the cars for the virtual reality scene––their speeds and stopping points need to be very precise and as close to real life as possible so study participants feel as though they’re in the real world. Luckily, I’ve been benefiting from Sebastian’s Unity expertise! This week my plans are to optimize my city scene for virtual reality.
I’ve gotten to experience a lot of different foods here––the strangest thing I’ve eaten is probably something called grill cheese (not grilled cheese) which is a cheese patty that you cook on the grill. It was tasty and definitely not something I’ve ever encountered in the US. Barbecues in Germany are much more vegetarian-friendly than barbecues in the US, which has been exciting!
Our second weekend here Theo, Stepheny, and I spent a day in Bremen, a city nearby that’s bigger than Oldenburg. We took the train in, ate spaghetti eis and Indian food, and walked almost ten miles! This past weekend I went to Berlin and got to see the part of the wall that’s preserved at the East Side Gallery. One of my favorite parts of Oldenburg is biking everywhere––the city is very safe for cyclists. A few weeks ago we visited a lake that was about 6 miles from our apartments and played some beach volleyball with Uwe, another PhD student, and his friends. Next weekend Theo, Stepheny, and I are meeting Diana, another IRES student, in Paris. We can’t wait!
Until next time!