A 3D Virtual Environment Development Platform for ASD Therapy Tools

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis is to develop a generic 3D virtual environment development platformfor autism spectrum disorder (ASD) therapy tools. The potential of using computerisedtherapy tools for ASD therapy is well known. However, the development of such tools isexpensive and time-consuming, and is language and culture speci c. This work intendsto alleviate these problems.The design of the platform is based on known game engine designs, but adapted for therequirements of ASD therapy tools. It supports standard features such as 3D rendering,animation and audio output. Speci c features, aimed at ASD therapy tools and educationalgames, included in our engine are: replays, data capturing, remote monitoring overa network and language localisation. We also implemented an input hardware abstractionlayer to allow support for non-standard input peripherals in the future, without modifyingexisting game implementations. Furthermore, to separate the development of games andtools from the engine, we include wrapper libraries in our engine for Lua and Java.We successfully developed our engine and implemented a number of prototype therapytools and educational games. These implementations confirmed that the engine works asexpected. Some of these programs are currently in use at a local primary school.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University