Virtual Reality Summit

Experience virtual reality, augmented reality, 360 video, and more. Consult with campus innovators about teaching and research applications. Join us for demonstrations of projects and a lunchtime panel discussion.

Online registration has closed, but you may still register on-site for our morning and afternoon sessions. Lunch panels for both days are fully booked.

Lunch and Panel
11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
Virtual Reality in Teaching and Research
Moderator: Ash Black, Global Initiatives
Panelists:
Bryan Carter, College of Humanities
Joe Farbrook, College of Fine Arts
John Grant, Defense Intelligence Agency
Lloyd LaComb, College of Optical Sciences
John McBride, LookingGlass
Young Jun Son, Systems and Industrial Engineering
Open Demo Sessions
10:00 a.m.–11:30 a.m. and 1:30–3:00 p.m. 

Virtual Reality, 3D Printing, and New Building Materials
Lucas Guthrie and Omar Youseff, College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture
The College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (CAPLA) is the nation's leader in sustainable design and planning for extreme climates. We leverage our surroundings to reshape the built environment in the most sustainable way possible. In order to do so we take careful consideration of the history of place while integrating the best technologies available on the market.

A Virtual Factory for Manufacturing Courses
Young Jun Son, Department of Systems & Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering
In this VR demo, you will be in the middle of a modern manufacturing factory, and observe operations of various equipment, such as CNC machines, robots, automatically-guided vehicles, overhead crane, among others. This demo will be used for students in the manufacturing courses at UA. Before they come to manufacturing labs, they will be already familiar with the equipment that will be covered in the labs.

BrainGainz
Ricardo Valerdi, Department of Systems & Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering
A VR app aimed at improving concussion education.

Ken McAllister, College of Humanities

Virtual Harlem, Motion Capture
Bryan Carter, College of Humanities

Volume Holographic Optical Element (VHOE) Lens
Lloyd LaComb, College of Optical Sciences
Many applications in Augmented Reality (AR) require lenses that combine computer generated imagery with a view of the outside world.  The College of Optical Sciences team will demonstrate a proof-of-concept reflection Volume Holographic Optical Element (VHOE) lens with minimal chromatic aberration. Recent work has shown that both achromatic and spherical aberration of such a lens is minimized when the diffraction angle of the reconstructed beam is equal to reflection angle of the readout beam from the hologram surface. We will demonstrate two versions of the lens.  One will present a magnified image of a cell phone screen display at a distance of approximately 8m to minimize eye strain.  We will also present a prototype waveguided holographic lens system that can be used in near-to-eye glasses or helmet mounted displays.

3D Modeling
Joe Farbrook, School of Art

Journalism 360
Mike McKisson, Department of Journalism
Using immersive technology to transport the audience to the story. 

Working with 360, Mobile and In-browser 360 Applications
Ash Black, Tech.Global, Office of Global Initiatives
What is ‘360’ and how is it different from VR and AR?  What is it good for, and how difficult it is it to produce? Tech.Global will share our techniques for rapidly capturing and publishing 360 content in-browser and showcase our Campus 360 application.  We’ve got code that can quickly result in a 360 experience on your Website, and we’re happy to share it with you.  We’ve even integrated with Drupal, so stop on by!

Learning to Code in VR, a Workstation Demo
Ash Black, Tech.Global, Office of Global Initiatives
Is VR development easy? No! But you CAN get your feet wet a lot faster than you might imagine.  Drop on by our ‘Coding in VR with Unity’ demo booth and if you’ve got the time, settle in for a self-paced tutorial experience that will really help you understand how programming is achieved in Unity for Virtual Reality applications.  You’ll be following a standard YouTube 3D modelling tutorial, but with some help from our crew. At the end, we will show you the magic trick of integrating an in-game camera to produce a home-grown VR experience.  The application you will have no practical use, but the context you’ll gain in about an hour of effort is invaluable.  Come on by and code!

VR Studio and iSpace
Anthony Sanchez, UA Libraries

LiDAR Walkthrough of Kartchner Caverns
Mike Bruck, Cynthia Hart and Chris Deer, University Information Technology Services
We will demonstrate the ability to walk through various LiDAR datasets acquired in Kartchner Caverns, as delivered by an Oculus Rift headset.  Our data is a subset of data from the Kemeny lab in the Dept. of Mining and Geological Engineering here at the University of Arizona, via consultation with Dr. Kemeny and Melissa Bates.  Our walkthrough is enabled by the open source LiDAR point cloud viewing software, Cloud Compare, which offers a plugin to the Oculus Rift.   Come see a 3D view of Kartchner Caverns right here on campus!

Chronological VR
Doug Gann, Archaeology Southwest, Arizona State Museum

VR and 360 Video
John McBride and Michael Oder, Looking Glass
We will be demonstrating fully immersive wireless enterprise VR. Our demos will include architect renderings and entertainment based experiences. These demos will include allowing multiple users in the experience at the same time. 

HoloMaps by Taqtile: for Visualization of 3D Geo-encoded Data
John Tomizuka, Taqtile

John Grant, US Defense Intelligence Agency

VR Athletic Training Apps
Rodrigo Savage, Intero
The Intero Virtual Reality project is aimed at intertwining VR and athletics. The project began when former rower, Rodrigo Savage noticed that VR could enhance athletic performance, motivation, and stimulation on athletic machines. Rodrigo has worked with Neuroscience undergrad, Becca Rogers, to develop a VR rowing app which pairs up with athletic machines, as well as a VR headset built specifically for athletes. Rodrigo and Rebecca have also been researching and developing an EEG VR headset which allows for virtual reality interaction using brain waves. They have participated in the UA Game Jam, AZ Hackathon, Startup Weekend, Innovate UA Accelerator, Jalisco Campus Party, and are now developing their virtual reality ideas in the Thryve Incubator. 

The MMT Observatory on Mt. Hopkins: VR Tour of the Summit (in a Genie-Lift!)
Dallan Porter, MMT Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory

Would you like to experience the summit of Mt. Hopkins at 8500 feet and see the 6.5-meter MMT telescope up close? We’re going to take you for an interactive ride around the summit in a 100-foot high Genie-Lift and give you a bird's-eye view of the enormous amount of work involved in re-coating the giant primary mirror with aluminum. The MMT is a 6.5-meter telescope, a joint venture of The Smithsonian Institution and The University of Arizona, located on the grounds of the Smithsonian’s Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in the Santa Rita mountain range south of Tucson.

Presented by University Libraries, University Information Technology Services, Defense & Security Research Institute, Research Discovery and Innovation, and Academy for Defense Intelligence, Defense Intelligence Agency.

When
August 4, 2017, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
August 7, 2017, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm