Regarding the project:

Save Earthy

is a VR experience for children to teach them how to take care of the environment during simple daily actions.

The user will have to take actions to avoid household waste, learning notions to be applied in real life, and these will ensure that Earthy, the mascot, is getting better and better as waste gets reduced. Earthy will guide the user in his educational adventure, giving lessons and giving interesting facts about daily waste in Italy and in the world.  

The aim of the experience is to save Earthy by learning good habits to apply in real life. Earthy will suggest the user, during the final greeting, to share these notions with all his friends, so that the environment can really benefit from the experience. 

An initial video will also remind the user of the current climate crisis but will also tell him that it is reversible and that, if we all work together, we will be able to resolve and return to a healthy planet.  

DISCLAIMER: The voiceover of the introductory video is currently only available in Italian.

Controls

The experience is available for VR Headsets.

The user can interact with all objects inside the house (e.g. open and close faucets, turn off switches, etc...) and with the tablet, on which the tasks to be performed and where he can monitor the health of Earthy will appear. 

Earthy

Earthy is the mascot of the project and represents a small planet Earth in a "cute and cuddly" version to encourage users to take care of her. 

She has 5 stages of life: 

1. Superfelice (super happy): Earthy has an ecstatic expression and is covered with trees of different types, living in harmony with the houses because humanity has understood the value of ecology and lives in peace with nature. 
2. Felice (happy): Earthy has a happy expression and some trees and houses cover it. 
3. Neutra (neutral): Earthy has a vaguely perplexed but also impartial expression and no object covers it. 
4. Triste (sad): Earthy has an unhappy expression and some houses cover it. There are no trees and factories begin to appear.  
5. Supertriste (super sad): Earthy has a very unhappy expression and is covered with many houses and factories, which release gray clouds of smog into the atmosphere. In this phase man does not live in harmony with nature and, instead, he is destroying it himself. 

At the beginning of the experience, Earthy will be in stage 5. If the user follows the proposed challenges correctly and continuously, they will start to feel better. If the user does not respect the tasks, Earthy will be slowly worsen and will return in step 5. 

During the various missions, Earthy will give suggestions to the user, manifesting other expressions.  
Upon completion of each "level", moreover, Earthy will give the user feedback on his work and will leave him a curiosity about household waste in Italy and in the world. 

Earthy will always be visible in the user’s tablet, where tasks also appear. 

DISCLAIMER: All Earthy interaction dialogues are currently only available in Italian. 

Tasks

The adventure consists of tasks, divided into as many levels plus a final level where the various tasks are mixed together. 

The available tasks are: 

1. Turn off the faucets when not in use, so as not to waste water; 
2. Turn off the light when you are not in the room to not consume electricity; 
3. Keep the temperature in the established limits (20-22,) and lower it in the hottest areas of the house (example, in the kitchen) or those less lived (example, the entrance); 
4. Recycle; 
5. Change the bulbs in favor of LED ones, which consume less; 

The team

The project was realized for the "Virtual Reality" course of the Polytechnic of Turin for the Master’s Degree in Cinema and Media Engineering (A.A. 2023-2024). 

The members of the group are: 

• Michele Bissanti 
• Andrea Caldarelli 
• Giuseppe Caruso 
• Filippo Collino 
• Chiara Colosseo 

Credits

A special thanks to:

Unity city: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/urban/modular-lowpoly-streets-free-192094
Unity controller: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/modular-first-person-controller-189884

Soundtrack: "Cozy Grove relaxing music BGM loop ( Light + Night )" by  Cowy Bang Bang on YouTube