Video: Virtual reality wetroom experience helps OTs to view adaptations more effectively
Accessible bathroom specialist Impey has created an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience to showcase its wetroom adaptations to occupational therapists (OTs), which allows them to better understand and experience its products.
Impey welcomed OT Show attendees into its 4D showering experience in November 2022, creating an immersive vision of “bathroom adaptations of the future”.
Impey’s stand dispelled the myth that accessible showering spaces are unattractive or purely clinical. Exploring roomsets in VR helped attending OTs understand and experience how a bathroom works, feels, and looks.
OTs were able to step inside Impey’s accessible showering spaces, which combine elegant, ergonomic solutions with practicality, convenience, and quality.
The expansive portfolio of products on display included high-performance wetroom floor formers, shower trays with graded slip resistance, multi-function grab rails, glass shower screens, and modern shower seating.
Dr Rachel Russell, Senior Regional Advisor at Foundations, said: “I feel that the main benefit of VR technology is helping older and disabled people visualise the adaptations they will be getting.
“However, given the financial implications of getting the design of an adaptation wrong, I believe occupational therapists should consider how this type of technology can be used as part of the assessment and design process for adaptations, particularly in complex cases.
“As occupational therapists, the only time we know if an adaptation will be successful is once it is installed, which is too late in the process if we have got it wrong. Having used the technology, I can see how being immersed in the virtual adaptation gives me a better sense of whether the design has achieved a good fit between the person and the environment being adapted.
“This ‘person environment fit’ level of detail is often difficult to interpret from 2D or even 3D CAD drawings.”
Watch the video below to see Impey’s accessible bathroom VR experience in action and listen to the positive feedback from OTs:
The software that powered the VR experience will also provide the ability to create high-resolution, full-colour 3D renders and augmented reality for everyday OT surveys. The surveying team can then create a realistic vision of accessible showering, which benefits everyone involved in the process, from OTs and service users to landlords and installers.
Chris Kingaby, Product and Marketing Director at Impey, commented: “The feedback has been fantastic. The OTs we met at the show enjoyed the experience and thought about how our VR offering could affect their working life, their clients and how it could service them better.
“Impey has always been at the forefront of innovation. We want to give OTs, specifiers and end users confidence; by showing them exactly what their room will look like before it’s even been installed. This is just the start of an evolution.”
Visitors to the show could also attend an informative talk that focused on level access and wetroom showering, hosted by Impey Technical Field Manager Shaun Hunt. Drawing on over 30 years of experience in the bathroom sector, Shaun shared knowledge of adapted showering products, building regulations, technical specification, and usability.
Impey’s accredited CPD sessions tailored for OTs and technical specifiers will continue to be hosted by Shaun throughout 2023. The CPD courses are free of charge and can be booked by contacting the team at: adaptations@impeyshowers.com