Virtual Reality Lab

Project Title

Virtual Reality Lab

Project Area of Specialization

Augmented and Virtual Reality

Project Summary

In this project we address the issue of conducting labs in an online environment and the difficulties and problems that arises due to that. Students are not able interact with tools and equipment present in a physical lab which reduces their learning and understanding. The project provides the solution to this problem by providing a Virtual Reality lab environment where students can interact with tools and equipment so that they can perform the lab.

Project Objectives

Following are the objectives of the project:

To create an instructor less immersive VR lab environment so that students feel that they are in the physical lab.
To create Interaction between tools or equipment and student by accurate hand tracking using motion controller sensors so that they can perform activities / tasks in the VR environment.
To create real simulations of different tasks so students can perform different activities.
To create effective guidance system for students so that he can perform activities in an instructor less environment.
To create a real time feedback system so that students can understand and learn the activities that they are performing

Project Implementation Method

In this project, we tackle the technology limitations of similar software by creating a VR lab application for mobile devices, and for main input we used hand tracking. This way we have a similar experience to PC VR in a cost-effective way as both the Mobile VR and Leap Motion are less expensive solutions.

Mobile VR:

Mobile VR is a cost-effective platform as every student has a Mobile device. The main requirement for mobile VR is a VR headset for mobile which is affordable and easily available.

Hand Tracking:

We are using Leap Motion controller for hand tracking which will be the main input of our application. Mobile VR does not have hand tracking, but with the help of Leap Motion we can achieve it. Leap Motion only supports PC, and it is not compatible with mobile devices, so we will be using a server which will be running on a PC/laptop, the server will transmit the Leap Motion data to the mobile device.

Assumptions : The application will run on android phones which have gyroscope and accelerometer sensor.The application will require VR headset and leap motion controller. Hand tracking will require a pc and the mobile device in same network in order to send leap motion data to the mobile application.

Benefits of the Project

With VR lab, students can perform the lab as many times as they want for proper understanding. The students will also be performing lab in a risk-free environment as they will be safe from dangers such as electric shocks, burns from soldering iron etc. Instructor time is saved as the VR lab provides an instructor less learning environment.The goal is to conduct the labs in an immersive Virtual reality environment on mobile devices using sensors such as gyroscope to simulate the VR experience while enabling students to interact and perform variety of tasks and activities with tools and equipment by hand tracking using motion controller sensors.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

VR lab will include a 3D lab environment where students will navigate and perform different activities.
The application will include Hand tracking with leap motion controller/VR controllers for interaction.
There will be Activity and simulation module which will simulate the tasks in VR lab.
The application will have an Instruction and guidelines module which will help student perform the tasks