VR Fire Evacuation Training using Digital Twin and BCI

VR Fire Evacuation Training using Digital Twin and Brain Computer Interface Devices

Current Students: Johannas Meela Katikala, Keerthana Srinivasan, Pranitha Seemalamudi 

Status: Current

This study presents a VR-assisted fire evacuation training system that integrates Digital Twin (DT) technology and Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) sensing to improve user navigation, decision-making, and emergency response performance in hazardous building-fire scenarios. The virtual environment reproduces architectural layouts and simulates dynamic fire and smoke propagation, enabling trainees to practice identifying safe routes, interpreting environmental cues, and executing time-critical evacuation strategies. The incorporation of BCI devices, including Emotiv and Galea, facilitates real-time monitoring of cognitive and affective states such as stress, mental workload, and attentional shifts during evacuation tasks. These physiological signals provide an additional analytical layer for assessing user performance and behavioral adaptation under stress. The system also employs AI-driven crowd modeling, adaptive pathfinding, interactive hazards, and multimodal feedback to create a comprehensive and data-driven training experience. The objectives include:
- Integrate EEG-based BCI devices to monitor trainee brain signals.
- Record neural markers of stress, focus, workload, and emotional response during evacuation tasks.
- Use BCI feedback to automatically adjust training difficulty (e.g., increasing smoke, time pressure, or environmental distractions).
- Provide personalized difficulty curves that adapt to each trainee’s cognitive and emotional state.
- Simulate realistic fire propagation, smoke behavior, and airflow using physics-based models compatible with 3d wall, metaquest 3, etc.
- Combine behavioral data with BCI data to generate comprehensive performance reports.
- Provide data-driven recommendations for improving evacuation routes, signage, and emergency procedures.
- Assist safety managers in evaluating the effectiveness of current fire protocols.

Publications

1. Sharma, S, Bodempudi, S.T., "Improving emergency response training and decision making using collaborative virtual reality environment for building evacuation", Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI International 2020), Thematic Area: Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality, Copenhagen, Denmark, 19-24 July 2020.
2. Sharma, S, Jerripothula, S., Devreaux, P., "An Immersive Collaborative Virtual Environment of a University Campus for performing Virtual Campus Evacuation drills and Tours for Campus Safety", proceedings of IEEE/ACM International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems (CTS 2015), Atlanta, Georgia, USA,ISBN: 978-1-4673-7646-4, page 84-89, DOI: 10.1109/CTS.2015.7210404, June 01-05, 2015.
3. Phillip Devreaux and Dr. Sharad Sharma, "Virtual Tour of University Campus Using Oculus Rift", Oral Presentation, at the Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM, hosted by AAAS, EHR and NSF, on Washington DC, on February 25-27, 2016.
4. Isaac Amo-Frempong and Dr. Sharad Sharma, "Virtual Evacuation Drill in a Multi-user Environment", Oral Presentation, at the Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), hosted by AAAS, EHR and NSF, Washington DC, February 19-21, 2015.