A Reproducible Reality-to-VR Pipeline for Ecologically Valid Aging-in-Place Research

TL;DR

This paper presents a reproducible pipeline for creating high-fidelity, photorealistic VR environments from real-world scans, enabling ecologically valid aging-in-place research with flexible environmental manipulation and minimal cybersickness risk.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed, reproducible workflow for transforming real-world environments into high-fidelity VR simulations suitable for aging-in-place studies.

Findings

Achieved photorealistic rendering at 90 Hz frame rate.

Validated minimal cybersickness in older adults during VR use.

Demonstrated flexible environmental manipulation in VR environment.

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool for assessing instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) in older adults. However, the ecological validity of these simulations is often compromised by simplified or low-fidelity environmental design that fails to elicit a genuine sense of presence. This paper documents a reproducible Reality-to-VR pipeline for creating a photorealistic environmental simulation to support a study on cognitive aging in place. The proposed workflow captured the as-built kitchen of the Aware Home building at Georgia Tech using Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) for sub-millimeter geometric accuracy, followed by point cloud processing in Faro SCENE, geometric retopology in SketchUp, and integration into Unreal Engine 5 via Datasmith with Lumen global illumination for high visual fidelity. The pipeline achieved photorealistic rendering while maintaining a stable 90 Hz frame rate, a critical threshold for mitigating cybersickness in older populations. The environment also enables instantaneous manipulation of environmental variables, such as switching between closed cabinetry and open shelving, providing experimental flexibility impossible in physical settings. Participant validation with 17 older adults confirmed minimal cybersickness risk and preserved sensitivity to the experimental manipulation, supporting the pipeline's feasibility for aging-in-place research and establishing a benchmark for future comparative studies.