The system, developed at the university’s Realities Extended lab, records users’ biometrics and movement analytics as they drive on the Moon to capture human performance data.

Immersive Media program director and Realities Extended lab head, Steven Cook, said the “comprehensive sensory experiences” can now track a user’s head, hands, fingers and eyes.

The technology records how a user interacts with the cockpit and how they respond to stimuli.

“We can measure how people move, what they are looking at, whether they have their eyes open or closed, even if they’re shaking or tremoring,” Cook said.

Drivers can conduct mission narratives within the system which capture data on a user’s physiological reaction to emergencies on the lunar surface such as air leaks or damage to the rover.

“You’ll hear the sound of something going wrong, you’ll see things going wrong,” said Cook.

“You’ve got a heightened sense of anxiety.”

Data is then captured on performance measurements such as whether the driver can calm themselves quickly, repeatedly check oxygen levels and solve the problem.

Other narratives simply capture the data of how a driver navigates the environment when driving from A to B.

“There is a lot of excitement around this project not only for what it offers for space sector education but for its wider potential in defence,” said Cook.

Defence applications include testing the ergonomics and efficacy of vehicle designs and measuring the situational awareness of users under the stress of battle and Cook said the lab is open to collaboration with commercial partners.

“If we can simulate designs that are upcoming, we can measure how people perform within those designs before they’re built in the physical world,” he said.

The technology can also be used to train human-based Artificial Intelligence through human performance data.

For instance, AI could be trained to pilot autonomous vehicles in similar situations to those presented to human users.

Cook said it could “provide a method to comparatively assess performance”.

As the systems develops further, the vast amount of human data collected can inform smarter automation with a greater ability to problem solve.

Other practical applications include biometric tracking in medical rehabilitation where data measuring the tremor rate of a patient with Parkinson’s Disease when completing an activity could inform the patient’s treatment.

The program has pulled collaborators from a variety of disciplines. Experts in space, psychology, education, engineering, architecture and immersive media provided their knowledge.

“No one has expertise across the whole range, so we’re very reliant on subject matter experts,” Cook said.

“The architecture, if we’re working on lunar environments, we want to be able to replicate what they see as being feasible as buildings on the moon.”

The system has been built using real moon data so users can accurately experience 151 square kilometres of moon terrain using a motion platform that simulates “each virtual bump, rock, and undulation” in the lunar environment. Users can look up at stars mapped using a particle system.

“All of your movements have meaning and power,” Cook said.