Floral Tribute Ritual in Virtual Reality: Design and Validation of SenseVase with Virtual Memorial

Paper Title

Floral Tribute Ritual in Virtual Reality: Design and Validation of SenseVase with Virtual Memorial

Paper Information

• Research Domain: Human-Computer Interaction and technology-driven memorial ritual design
• Keywords: mourning, memorialization, online memorial, death rituals, technological spiritual practices, sensitive design for exceptional circumstances, design research

Research Background and Issues

• Identified Problems or Challenges:
  • Maintaining physical memorial sites is costly, and limitations in public spaces may lead to the removal of memorial locations.
  • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were unable to visit memorial sites in person.
  • Existing online memorial services (e.g., "memorial accounts" on social media) preserve information about the deceased but lack embodied and ritualistic interaction methods, such as offering flowers or lighting candles.
• Significance:
  • Physical rituals are considered crucial for helping mourners accept death and alleviate grief. Online memorial formats urgently need to incorporate physical or embodied interactions to provide emotional and spiritual support.
• Research Motivation and Related Work:
  • The authors propose designing technological systems to supplement and expand public memorial rituals, addressing both private and public memorialization needs.
  • Previous research has explored the application of digital tools in grief management, digital legacy handling, and memorialization, but there is a lack of systematic design targeting public mourning rituals.

Solution

• Method or Solution:
  • The authors designed and developed SenseVase, a sensor-embedded smart vase capable of detecting inserted flowers, paired with a 3DCG-based virtual memorial system, Virtual Memorial, which displays virtual bouquets offered via SenseVase.
  • The system includes a mobile application that allows users to create or manage memorial sites, configure memorial styles, and select flower-offering actions.
• Innovative Features:
  • Connecting physical rituals (e.g., flower arrangement) with digital memorial scenes to support embodied participation experiences.
  • Providing a hybrid design for both public and private applications, highlighting the social significance of online memorial rituals.
• Implementation Steps and Key Technologies:
  • SenseVase deploys infrared sensors to detect vase conditions (e.g., water presence, number of inserted flowers).
  • Signals from the vase are translated into real-time bouquet effects in the virtual memorial scene via the Unity platform.
  • The smartphone application supports configuration and interaction, such as memorial site selection and bouquet style customization.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Results:
  • The prototype system SV-VM (SenseVase with Virtual Memorial) successfully achieved interaction between physical rituals and virtual memorial scenes.
  • Expert interviews validated the potential value of the system concept, particularly in the social application of public memorial rituals.
• Advantages over Existing Solutions:
  • Bridging physical and virtual memorial scenes, addressing the lack of ritualistic elements in existing online memorial methods.
  • Flexible system design that can be customized for disaster sites, private homes, and public spaces to provide tailored memorialization solutions.
• Experiment or Evaluation Results:
  • Expert interviews (five sessions, totaling 17 participants) revealed strong recognition of the system's utility and development trajectory, while emphasizing the need to address social sensitivity issues in the design process.
  • Participants suggested features to enhance engagement and motivation, such as adding narrative backgrounds, user interaction tracking, and stronger visual expressions.
• Limitations and Future Directions:
  • The current prototype does not support multi-user collaboration, and deployment requires technical and service management support.
  • The design needs to further address the emotional complexity of memorial services, especially in regions where disasters occurred recently and personal trauma remains unresolved.
  • The authors recommend future research to explore the integration of virtual memorial components into daily life and examine social acceptance across multicultural contexts.

Conclusion

This study, through the development of the SenseVase and Virtual Memorial prototype, proposes a novel design concept that combines physical rituals with virtual memorialization. Expert interviews validated the social demand and technical feasibility of online memorial rituals. Future work will focus on expanding system functionality, enhancing user engagement, and addressing social and ethical issues.