Motion Sickness Lab
Motion and Sea Sickness Virtual Reality Moving Platform
The Motion Sickness Laboratory (MS Lab), a collaboration between IBNE at Reykjavik University and the University of Iceland, has as main focus to study motion and sea sickness. Motion Sickness is a common complaint among those who passively travel and it is highest in childhood and usually decreases in adulthood.
Due to modern technology humans have faced new difficulties as in space flights (space sickness),or when playing computer games and training in flight simulator (visual induced motion sickness) where the nominator is that the person is motionless. Closely related to seasickness is land sickness (mal de debarquement) felt of those who have stayed in motion rich environment as expected on board ship at sea, but when ashore they have to adapt to the dynamic stable land environment.
The MSLab introduces a novel multimeric system based on virtual reality, a mechanical platform and several biomedical sensors (like EEG, EMG, heart rate sensor and more...) to study the physiology associated to motion sickness. The mobile platform, unique in the world, used in these experiments allows to simulate the waves and the rough sea through a virtual reality environment that shows a boat surrounded by waves whose frequency and amplitude are synchronized with platform movement.
The main objectives of the study are:
- Establish a gold standard for the quantitative measurements of motion sickness using bio-signals
- Evaluate and improve type and strength of the Virtual Reality moving platform simulator to evaluate training and treatments for those who suffer from motion sickness
- Classify the physiology associated to motion sickness disorders using machine learning algorithms to develop motion sickness risk assessment for individuals and to improve training tools for these disorders.
In the figure is shown the measurements setup of the Virtual Reality platform.
