Virtual Reality

Virtual and augmented reality can temporarily change the way people perceive distances: Study

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 17:23:24 +0000

Virtual and augmented reality can temporarily change the way people perceive distances: Study

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 08/30/2024 - 13:23

Cutline

U of T researchers found that people moved differently in virtual reality and augmented reality, and that these changes led to temporary movement errors in the real world (photo by D-BASE/Getty Images)

Jelena Damjanovic

Topic

Breaking Research

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Research & Innovation

Virtual Reality

Subheadline

'We wanted to understand if the way our brains and bodies adapt to these digital environments changes how accurately we can move and interact with real objects"

Researchers at the University of Toronto have found that using virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) can temporarily change the way people perceive and interact with the real world – with potential implications for the growing number of industries that use these technologies for training purposes.

The study, published recently in the journal Scientific Reports, not only found that people moved differently in VR and AR, but that these changes led to temporary errors in movement in the real world. In particular, participants who used VR tended to undershoot their targets by not reaching far enough, while those who used AR tended to overshoot their targets by reaching too far.

This effect was noticeable immediately after using VR or AR, but gradually disappeared as participants readjusted to real-world conditions.

“Our study explored how using mixed reality (MR) technologies, like virtual reality and augmented reality, affects our ability to perform everyday physical tasks once we return to the real world,” says Xiaoye Michael Wang, a research associate in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education who co-authored the study with Professor Tim Welsh.

“Specifically, we wanted to understand if the way our brains and bodies adapt to these digital environments changes how accurately we can move and interact with real objects after using VR and AR.”

Research associate Xiaoye Michael Wang fits a VR display onto study participant Colin Dolynski (photo by Molly Brillinger)

The researchers say they were surprised by two findings: first, that movement patterns in VR and AR transfer to real-world movements; and second, by how quickly the effects of AR wore off compared to VR, with study participants readjusting to real-world conditions faster after using AR.

The difference between VR and AR, they suggest, might be because people in AR can still see and interact with their actual surroundings, which helps them maintain a more accurate sense of depth and distance.

“These findings are crucial because they highlight a potential challenge in transferring skills learned in VR or AR to the real world,” says Welsh. “As more industries and training programs adopt these technologies for skill development, it's important to understand how they might affect real-world performance.

“For example, this could be relevant for training surgeons, pilots or even everyday skills like driving. Knowing the limitations and effects of VR and AR helps ensure these technologies are used effectively and safely.”

The researchers will next be exploring how different types of VR and AR experiences, like those involving more complex or immersive scenarios, affect real-world performance. They’re also interested in seeing how training duration and individual differences such as prior experience with these technologies, influence adaptation and readjustment.

“This research will help us better understand how to design VR and AR systems that minimize negative after-effects and maximize their potential for training and skill development,” Wang says.

U of T researcher uses VR to improve mental health of urban refugees, displaced youth

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 16:48:23 +0000

U of T researcher uses VR to improve mental health of urban refugees, displaced youth

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 08/13/2021 - 12:48

Cutline

Carmen Logie, an associate professor of social work, is launching a study to investigate the use of virtual reality interventions to improve mental health among urban refugees and displaced youth in Uganda (photo courtesy of Carmen Logie)

Megan Easton

Topic

Our Community

Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Global

Mental Health

Virtual Reality

Carmen Logie put on a virtual reality headset for the first time three years ago. She watched a short film about a Liberian woman’s experience in the Ebola epidemic.

“It was a life-changing moment,” says Logie, an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. “I felt like I was there with her. It was such a powerful way to develop empathy.

“I immediately started thinking about how I could use this amazing technology in my work on health equity.”

Carmen Logie

So, Logie began investigating VR health-care applications and quickly discovered a body of evidence – from high-income countries – demonstrating its mental health-care benefits, specifically in improving mood, reducing stress and teaching self-care.

“But there was no evidence on how it could help in low-income countries or humanitarian contexts,” Logie says.

Three years later, Logie is launching a study of a VR intervention focused on mental health in urban refugees and displaced youth. Working closely with youth and local community partners in Uganda, which hosts the third-largest number of refugees in the world, her team will develop a VR experience aimed at improving mental health literacy, reducing mental health stigma and decreasing symptoms of depression.

Logie’s previous research found alarmingly high rates of depression among refugee and displaced young people living in five informal settlements – commonly called slums – in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Nearly three-quarters of young women and about half of young men aged 16 to 24 reported depression symptoms.

“Now that we’ve measured this urgent problem, we’re focused on designing and measuring solutions,” says Logie, who is Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity and Social Justice with Marginalized Populations.

In addition to VR, the study will evaluate other mental health interventions delivered via text messages and web-based applications – both alone and in combination with VR. These will include psychological first aid, a World Health Organization approach that trains laypeople to provide practical support and care.

The VR content employed will be based on interviews with youth and community partners to understand the key factors that influence mental wellbeing, as well as strategies they find effective in managing stress. The plan is to co-develop a 30-minute VR session – half of which will be devoted to a youth describing what it’s like to live with mental health challenges.

“They might be walking through their community talking about their depression and how they’ve felt stigmatized,” says Logie. “Then maybe they’ll demonstrate some of the self-help approaches they’ve learned and how they access formal mental health support.”

Those watching the session through VR, meanwhile, will be immersed in the storyteller’s 3D environment.

The second half of the session will be interactive, allowing users to choose an avatar and practise coping strategies in virtual settings. Naimul Khan, director of the Ryerson University Multimedia Research Lab and an expert on designing user-centred VR systems, is leading the VR design, development and implementation.

Mental health concerns disproportionately affect refugees and internally displaced individuals. And, despite the fact that 40 per cent of the more than 80 million displaced people globally are under 18 years old, Logie says most studies on mental health interventions have focused on either young children or adults.

“There’s a knowledge gap around what works with adolescent refugees that we want to help fill,” she says. “We also know very little about mental wellbeing among refugee youth living in urban areas, rather than formal refugee settlements, or camps.”

Urban refugees tend to be overlooked because they’re more dispersed, adds Logie, even they confront unique pressures beyond the trauma of war and losing their homes. Unlike refugees in camps, where some food, sanitation and shelter is provided, urban refugees rarely have adequate access to the essentials.

Logie says it took some persistence to bring her VR idea to fruition. She initially acquired a headset and brought it to Uganda so her research collaborators could try it out. “They had the same reaction as me: we’ve got to find a way to use it,” she says. But securing funding for a novel investigation of a relatively leading-edge technology wasn’t easy. “I was getting the message from grant application reviewers that VR was more suited to high-income countries,” Logie says.

Logie acknowledges that it’s vital to adapt technology requirements to suit low-income contexts, but says the cost of VR headsets – which can be sanitized and shared by community agencies – continues to fall. “Why shouldn’t somebody in a refugee camp or slum access a digital tool that someone in Toronto is using to boost their mental health?”

Grand Challenges Canada, an agency funded by the Canadian government and other partners, awarded the study $250,000 through their Global Mental Health Program – the third project of Logie’s it has funded.

Logie says the research is ready to launch. The interview process will begin later this summer, VR development will take place through the fall and the VR intervention will be implemented and evaluated in Kampala starting in the new year.

Researchers at U of T Mississauga tap immersive technologies to improve palliative care

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 13:34:20 +0000

Researchers at U of T Mississauga tap immersive technologies to improve palliative care

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 08/07/2020 - 09:34

Cutline

With VR, palliative care patients can embark on virtual trips, share virtual travel experiences with family members, reminisce about the past and share stories (photo by Levente Bodo via Getty Images)

Topic

Research & Innovation

U of T Mississauga

Virtual Reality

Researchers at the University of Toronto are looking to the virtual world to improve the quality of life for those in palliative care.

Cosmin Munteanu, assistant professor at U of T Mississauga’s Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, and PhD student Sho Conte are exploring how virtual reality (VR) devices can be used to enhance people’s experiences.

The impetus for the study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, came from Conte’s experiences as a volunteer at a Toronto hospice. During some of his pre-pandemic visits, Conte took along some VR equipment (one of his hobbies) to entertain clients. He found himself using Google Earth to explore places they wanted to visit – or revisit.

“The reception was incredible – super emotional and super effective,” Munteanu says, noting those in palliative care often have limited mobility and few opportunities to enjoy new experiences.

The lack of social participation has been exacerbated by the recent pandemic. Conte notes he hasn’t been able to see his client since March due to COVID-19.

“It’s a bit upsetting to me, just thinking about that, if I was in that situation,” he says.

VR may be a way to break through the social isolation – whether caused by the pandemic or the nature of palliative care itself – and open new opportunities to facilitate social participation.

“I see VR as a window into these virtual experiences that are immersive and very lived. It’s not as good as the real thing, but in light of their mobility challenges, it works really well,” Conte says.

It may also be a tool that helps provide a more holistic approach to end-of-life care.

“We have a very good palliative care system in Canada,” says Munteanu, although he notes there tends to be a medical focus.

“It’s the soft side that’s often neglected.”

With VR, patients can embark on virtual trips, share virtual travel experiences with family members, reminisce about the past and share stories while looking at Google Street View. VR could also give them a means to have an immersive experience, augment personal connections or even escape the confines of the hospice and meet others in a virtual setting.

The pandemic has put a temporary hold on exploring ways to put VR in the hands of palliative care patients because it’s not currently safe to work with such a vulnerable group. So, Conte has pivoted his research to focus on helping clinicians have difficult planning discussions with patients.

Studies show that 90 per cent of people want to have conversations about planning their care if things go badly, but only about 10 per cent have those conversations, Conte says. “Having conversations and planning before it’s too late is one of the biggest predictors of quality at end of life.”

He’s now turning to VR to help practitioners prepare for these emotionally charged discussions that happen too infrequently. Using a 3D chatbot that provides rich, simulated responses based on a serious illness conversation guide, medical students record themselves having a conversation about advanced care planning. They then review the conversation through VR, where they can see it from the other person’s perspective, giving them a tool for critical self-reflection, learning and training. The goal is to help caregivers gain the confidence to talk about sensitive issues.

Munteanu explains that the immersive technology could be used to develop more empathetic and more attentive listening skills that, in turn, help improve the social and personal aspects of palliative care.

“It’s not that people aren’t doing all they can,” he says. “[But]here are so many more opportunities to make it even better.”

Meanwhile, Munteanu’s Technologies for Aging Gracefully (TAG) lab is part of a three-year international research and development project that has received 1.5 million euros from the European Union’s Assisted Augmented Living to use of emerging technologies improve the quality of life of palliative care recipients, their family caregivers and professional care providers.

The studies are putting the U of T Mississauga’s TAG lab at the forefront of innovation.

“There’s a lot of good research on the medical side,” Munteanu says, but it’s time for everything else to catch up.

U of T Mississauga course turns lens – and virtual reality headsets – on East Asian cinema

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 14:56:07 +0000

U of T Mississauga course turns lens – and virtual reality headsets – on East Asian cinema

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 02/19/2020 - 09:56

Cutline

A second-year course at U of T Mississauga taught by Elizabeth Wijaya introduces students to new ways of thinking about East and Southeast Asian cinema, including a film shot in virtual reality in Taiwan (photo by Timothy Fadek/Corbis via Getty Images)

Topic

Undergraduate Students

Virtual Reality

Visual Studies

Elizabeth Wijaya is one of the rare scholars who can claim a listing on IMDB, the Internet Movie Data Base.

The new assistant professor of East Asian cinema at U of T Mississauga studies the transnationality of cinema – how stories and people cross borders throughout Asia. She also has credits as a writer, director and producer with E&W Films, the film production company she runs with partner and U of T Mississauga sessional lecturer Lai Weijie.

Since joining U of T Mississauga’s department of visual studies in January, Wijaya (left) has introduced virtual reality technology, a filmmaker-in-residence program and established a new archive of short Asian films at the U of T Mississauga Library.

Associate Professor Alison Syme, chair of the visual studies department, is enthusiastic about the additions Wijaya has made to the cinema studies program.

“We have high demand for cinema production courses from students who want to produce their own films,” Syme says. “Because Elizabeth is a practitioner and is involved in a production company, she brings hands-on knowledge to the classroom that our students love.”

Wijaya’s second-year undergraduate course introduces students to different ways of thinking about East and Southeast Asian cinema with a syllabus that includes movies from Hong Kong’s New Wave and Second Wave periods, and films set or produced in China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia.

“The course offers a mix of independent films and canonical films that I think students should know, but might not be on their radar today,” Wijaya says. “I want students to have a historical awareness of Asian film, but I also want them to have curiosity and excitement about what is happening now.”

Not all cinema takes place on the big screen, which is why Wijaya is also interested in how emerging technologies, including virtual reality, can push storytelling into new territories.

Working with U of T Mississauga’s new Collaborative Digital Research Space, Wijaya has secured four Oculus Quest virtual reality headsets for cinema students to watch Only the Mountain Remains, a dramatic VR film that debuted at the Venice International Film Festival in 2019. The film, produced by E&W Films, follows migrant Thai workers as they attempt to flee Taiwan in a harrowing 30-minute drive along a twisting mountain road.

The Oculus headsets put the viewer in the centre of the car with a 360-degree view of the action. “I want students to consider how this technology affects their analysis of the film, and what is the impact of watching this with a 360 (-degree) point of view instead of a conventional view,” Wijaya says

In February, Wijaya will welcome French-Cambodian filmmaker Davy Chou for a weeklong filmmaker-in-residence program. Chou will host public screenings of his documentary Golden Slumbers at U of T Mississauga, and his feature film Diamond Island at a second event on the St. George campus. He will also lead a graduate studies workshop to discuss the practicalities of film production and financing.

“There is not a lot of understanding of recent changes in Cambodian cinema,” Wijaya says “I wanted to really open up discussion about independent filmmaking in southeast Asia today.”

Wijaya is also working with the U of T Mississauga Library team to establish a new Asian short film archive that will be available to stream for U of T library users.

“I'm tremendously excited about working with the library to start and grow this collection,” Wijaya says. “Short cinema is often neglected in academic study, but it’s important for independent filmmakers who make a lot of short films before they can make feature films. This collection will be a valuable resource for research and teaching.”

U of T researchers explore virtual reality as a microbiology teaching aid

noreen.rasbach — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 20:17:51 +0000

U of T researchers explore virtual reality as a microbiology teaching aid

noreen.rasbach Fri, 11/15/2019 - 15:17

Cutline

There is growing interest in virtual reality among educators, but U of T's Michelle Lui says more research needs to be done on how to best incorporate the technology to benefit students (photo courtesy of Faculty of Information)

Rekha Morbia

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Information

Research & Innovation

Teaching

U of T Mississauga

Virtual Reality

Imagine being inside an E. coli bacterium, smaller than a speck of dust and surrounded by genetic material, molecules and proteins.

This could soon be commonplace for some microbiology students thanks to work by University of Toronto researchers who are investigating virtual reality design features that can support or impede learning.

“As a graduate of the master of science in biomedical communications program many years ago, and as a former professional medical illustrator thereafter, visualizing scientific processes and making thinking visible have been at the cornerstone of my thinking when it comes to designing technology for learning,” says Michelle Lui, a post-doctoral researcher at U of T Mississauga’s Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology who is working with Associate Professor Rhonda McEwen.

“I was drawn to immersive technologies as a medium for learning abstract scientific concepts in part because you can engage the learner on a number of different levels. Vision, touch, kinesthetics, and other aspects of our multisensory systems … We can design multiple representations as well as full-body interactions.”

As VR technology matures and becomes more widely available, interest for its use in educational settings is growing rapidly. But how to best design immersive VR applications to support conceptual understanding remains an unanswered question. One complicating factor is that the term “virtual reality” can refer to a broad range of technologies – from three-dimensional virtual worlds accessed from desktop computers to 360-degree videos viewed though a smartphone, or even a low-cost VR viewer, like Google Cardboard. At the other end of the spectrum, meanwhile, are high-end head-mounted display systems that allow users to walk around within small, trackable spaces and interact with their surrounding environment via handheld controllers.

Researchers created a simulation that allows students to observe and interact with the gene regulation process (Image courtesy of Faculty of Information)

“Our project focuses on this last category of VR,” says Lui. “We’ve partnered with a second-year microbiology course instructor at Carleton University, Martha Mullally, who noticed her students having difficulties understanding gene regulation, or how genes are turned on and off.”

Such courses, Lui says, are foundational and are key to understanding more complex cells, like animal cells, in upper-year microbiology courses. Hence, it’s critical for students to “get it right” at this level – a situation that could potentially be addressed with VR.

“[However,] what previous studies have shown is that VR can be cognitively draining,” says Lui. “So, we’re diving deeper into the experience itself to investigate this issue, and using our findings to address how to design VR experiences for learning.”

The team created a simulation that allows students to observe and interact with the gene regulation process. Some of the students taking the course last spring volunteered to participate in the study while their physiological signals like heart rate, respiration, and skin conductance were recorded.

“We can identify which aspects of the simulation are associated with indicators of cognitive overload,” Lui says, adding that the study suggested additional sesory stimulation from VR might be negatively affecting the learning experience in some students.

Factors that impacted students in the VR learning environment included gross motor changes (sitting versus standing and freely moving around), and the amount of information in the visual space.

One takeaway from the study is that educational designers should be encouraged to create adaptive experiences. For example, students with less knowledge in a subject area may need a VR learning environment that is less stimulating than students who possess more knowledge. They should also ideally be sitting down.

From the students’ perspective, most spoke positively about their VR experience.

“Afterwards, I can still see it," one student said. “Even in the assignment [on gene regulation], I could sort of see it.”

U of T graduate student delivers first virtual reality biochemistry lecture

rasbachn — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 18:52:21 +0000

U of T graduate student delivers first virtual reality biochemistry lecture

rasbachn Tue, 12/12/2017 - 13:52

Cutline

Aidin Balo, a PhD student in biochemistry, used virtual reality in describing how the visual pigment in the eye changes its shape and signals in response to light. The audience watched examples of these changes in real time

Topic

A University of Toronto graduate student is believed to be the first to use virtual reality in a biochemistry research lecture – allowing audience members to immerse themselves in 3D to better understand how the eye uses light to create vision.

Aidin Balo, a PhD student in the department of biochemistry, worked with the software company Autodesk and his PhD supervisor, Professor Oliver Ernst, to prepare the lecture. The team then supplied the audience with cheap cardboard-based tools they could use with their smartphones to instantly access an immersive atmosphere for peering deeply into the human eye.

“Anybody can do it,” says Balo. The software is public and you can make the glasses with cardboard and two pieces of convex glass. Then all you need is a desktop computer to prepare the content and a smartphone for each person. The goal here is to make virtual reality more accessible.”

Balo and Ernst delivered the lecture to 200 people in 2016 at a conference in Berlin, and then to a larger audience at ShanghaiTech University, with support from Autodesk’s Merry Wang and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Based on good audience feedback, the three wrote about their experience in this month’s issue of the journal Nature Methods.

“So many people came up to us afterwards,” he says. “It was such an overwhelmingly positive experience that I was surprised.”

In his lecture, as Balo described how the visual pigment in the eye changes its shape and signals in response to light, his audience watched examples of these changes in real time. By looking up, down or sideways, they could virtually circle around an entire protein, seeing the way it changed and how it worked in the eye. Balo realized that the experience made it easier for people outside his field of structural biology to understand how the first steps of vision work.

“Structural biologists would benefit from a virtual reality lecture, but so would those who are more interested in the bigger picture, but still need to know how molecules work,” he says. “Those could be biologists, chemists, physicists or even medical doctors.”

The Ernst lab at the Faculty of Medicine explores how light is converted to a chemical signal in the eye and how this signal is terminated. By understanding more about how the eye works to create vision, Balo hopes to learn more about when it fails to do so. He hopes that this research will contribute to future treatments for blindness.

Rise of the machines: U of T emerges as "ground zero" for the next wave of transformative technologies

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 16 May 2017 12:19:23 +0000

Rise of the machines: U of T emerges as "ground zero" for the next wave of transformative technologies

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 05/16/2017 - 08:19

Cutline

Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab’s (DCSIL) recent Funding Innovation conference featured speakers talking about new emerging technologies (photo illustration by Marcos Gasparutti via Flickr)

Chris Sorensen

Author legacy

Chris Sorensen

Topic

Global Lens

Entrepreneurship

Artificial Intelligence

Subheadline

Conference explores how artificial intelligence, machine learning and other computing technologies are poised to change everything

Some of the world’s biggest companies, from banks to carmakers, are poised to have their businesses transformed by new computing technologies – many of which are being developed at the University of Toronto.

John Ruffolo, the CEO of OMERS Ventures, delivered the message to a packed room at the Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab’s (DCSIL) recent Funding Innovation conference.

“U of T, over the past few years, has really exploded,” Ruffolo said, referring to the research and startups emerging in areas like artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain technologies, among others. “It really is ground zero.”

Ruffolo then laid out OMERS Ventures’ plan to focus on five broad areas of innovation where U of T students and faculty are making a big impact: e-commerce, fintech, automation of work, autonomous vehicles and synthetic biology.

“The rate of change is unprecedented,” Ruffolo said. “Disruption is happening at a pace that’s hard to keep up to.”

With $800 million under management, OMERS Ventures is the venture capital arm of one of Canada’s largest pension funds. It has made investments in such high-profile startups as Shopify, Hootsuite and D2L, among others.

Mario Grech, a director and co-founder of DCSIL, one of 10 accelerators on campus, said the organization has been “inundated” with calls from the global entrepreneurship community, and is also getting recognition from Silicon Valley.

The same is true of U of T's department of computer science. Associate Professor Raquel Urtasun was recently tapped by Uber to lead its new research lab in Toronto, which will focus on self-driving vehicles. Similarly, Geoffrey Hinton, a University Professor Emeritus, referred to as the “godfather” of deep learning, was hired by Google four years ago. Both are key figures at the recently launched Vector Institute in Toronto, a collaboration between Ottawa, the province of Ontario, U of T and industry partners. The institute aims to promote research and commercialization of AI technologies, a field where Canada is widely regarded as a leader.

The day-long conference consisted of a series of panel discussions that featured U of T researchers, industry leaders and startup founders.

Richard Zemel, a professor in U of T’s department of computer science and the Vector Institute’s head of research, was among those who weighed in some of the ethical questions AI faces, including how to keep tabs on computers that are increasingly capable of learning without human input.

“Good AI is one that be controlled by the outside,” he said.

Others spoke about the challenges facing those charged with keeping people’s information safe online. The topic turned out to be extremely timely as the world’s biggest cyberattack – dubbed “WannaCry” – began to unfurl across 150 countries shortly after the panel’s members including Kumar Murty, a professor of mathematics, took the stage.

The so-called “trough of disillusionment” surrounding augmented and virtual reality technologies was another hot topic. The term refers to the period of disappointment that follows the initial hype surrounding a new technology development. In VR’s case, excitement over the propsects for the technology soared following Facebook’s US$2 billion purchase of VR headset-maker Oculus Rift back in 2014.

“We haven’t seen a whole lot of capital go into these companies so far, but that’s going to change,” promised Prashant Matta, a senior associate at OMERS Ventures.

One example of what’s coming down the pipe: JanusVR, a company co-founded by Karan Singh, a U of T computer science professor, is reimagining the Internet as a virtual world where content is explored by walking through different rooms.

Why do its proponents believe VR is still a revolution-in-waiting?

Matt McPherson is a U of T alum who is now working for Toronto's Quantum Capture, which seeks to make more realistic human representations inside virtual reality experiences. He recalls one particularly perspective-altering moment during a VR experience: “This avatar turned to me and said, ‘Hey buddy.’ It was so spooky because I was sitting alone in my office, but I was no longer by myself.”

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at U of T

Taking video games to the next level: U of T’s Steve Engels on this year’s student game design showcase

ullahnor — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 18:57:59 +0000

Taking video games to the next level: U of T’s Steve Engels on this year’s student game design showcase

ullahnor Mon, 04/03/2017 - 14:57

Cutline

Level Up brings together game design students and gaming enthusiasts from all over Ontario (photo by Nina Haikara)

Nina Haikara

Author legacy

Nina Haikara

Topic

Over 2,000 students, instructors, industry insiders and gaming fans will crowd the Design Exchange for the seventh annual Level Up Showcase on Wednesday, an event that has become known for uncovering new creative talent.

Steve Engels, an associate professor, teaching stream in U of T's department of computer science, co-founded the event with Emma Westecott, an assistant professor at OCAD University, seven years ago.

“This event brings together game design students and gaming enthusiasts from all over Ontario, showcasing Ontario’s young talent to industry, media and the world,” says Engels.

“To see this event grow from its humble beginnings to what it is today is truly inspiring. It really shows how the field continues to grow and expand into all sorts of exciting new directions, and we’re looking forward to seeing all the things our students come up with this year.”

Not just for gamers: U of T anesthesiologists taking virtual reality to patients facing surgery

ullahnor — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 15:01:41 +0000

Not just for gamers: U of T anesthesiologists taking virtual reality to patients facing surgery

ullahnor Wed, 11/30/2016 - 10:01

Cutline

The virtual reality experience takes patients at SickKids through the various stages of surgical preparation, procedure and recovery

Dan Haves

Author legacy

Dan Haves

Topic

U of T Faculty of Medicine's Fahad Alam and Clyde Matava, both assistant professors of anesthesia, are hoping virtual reality can play an important role in reducing preoperative anxiety.

It’s common for many patients who are preparing for a surgical procedure to feel anxious. Whether it’s a fear of pain, being in a strange environment or worrying about the recovery, there are a number of concerns that doctors try to address with the patients before the surgery.

So Alam and Matava have created the Collaborative Human Immersive and Interactive Lab (CHISIL), which has virtual reality spaces at Sunnybrook Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children.

The video below gives you a sense of what that virtual reality feels like.

A lot of the work CHISIL does is centred around patient education, an integral part of any surgical procedure. It helps the patient understand the procedure and what they can expect on the day of the surgery.

“My focus has always been around technology-enhanced learning,” says Alam. “And at times, I found patient education to be an underserviced realm. So it made sense to start to look at how immersive virtual content could be geared towards preoperative patients.

Patients don special virtual reality goggles that let them “experience” the journey of being prepped for surgery and being transferred to the operating room. Alam and Matava monitor the patients’ anxiety levels, blood pressure, heart rate and self-assessment. They then compare this to a control group who watched traditional instructional videos before their operation.

Assistant Professor Fahad Alam provides preoperative instruction using virtual reality technology

While the study is still ongoing, Alam and Matava are already receiving positive feedback from patients who have used the technology.

“I have never heard the phrase, ‘This is so cool!’ so often,” says Alam. “Everyone is amazed by the content and in awe of the environment we are able to immerse them in.”

CHISIL is the first lab of its kind in Canada and is an initiative under eLearning and Technological Innovations by the Faculty of Medicine's department of anesthesia. While the lab initially operated solely from Sunnybrook and SickKids, they now have mobile virtual reality units. They’re also developing ways of letting patients access the virtual reality technology right from their homes.

Alam is excited about the potential applications of virtual reality in health care.

“Immersive content is just in its infancy, and it has nearly limitless possibilities. We can create any type of virtual environment and immerse the user instantaneously into what we have created.”

Assistant Professor Fahad Alam talks to a patient about the surgical process using virtual reality technology

New look for U of T's Faculty of Information

ullahnor — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 15:41:02 +0000

New look for U of T's Faculty of Information

ullahnor Tue, 10/25/2016 - 11:41

Cutline

Renovation on the fourth floor of the Faculty of Information features group study hubs (photo by Noreen Ahmed-Ullah)

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Author legacy

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Information

If you’ve ever flown first class in an executive pod, then you’ll appreciate the creature comforts behind the new study pods at U of T’s Faculty of Information.

A semi-enclosed space, comfy chair, movable desk, a foot stool to stretch your legs and your very own desk lamp and electrical outlet – what else could you possibly need?

“It’s perfect,” said Azel Mulagulova, a first-year master’s student in the faculty, which is also known as the iSchool. “There’s privacy. It’s very comfortable to work in and very efficient in the way it’s designed.”

The individual study pods are just part of the upgrades at the Faculty of Information, in which the fourth and fifth floors of the northern part of the Robarts Library complex have been completely redesigned and refurbished.

Azel Mulagulova works on her readings in a study pod at the iSchool

The renovation includes group study spaces, more interactive labs for digital preservation and database research, a soundproof Skype room and an exhibition wall (which will be replaced annually) for students in the Museum Studies program to practice curatorial techniques and designing exhibit spaces.

The faculty includes 681 graduate students in both the Information Studies and Museum Studies programs. While the new spaces will be available 24 hours a day to students in the faculty, they’re also open to other students from across the university from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“The impetus for adding updated smart boards and computers, gathering spaces, classrooms – and an abundance of electrical outlets – was to transform [this space] into a collaborative, experiential and experimental space,” says Dean Wendy Duff. “By giving students and professors a diverse range of study spaces: individual study pods, small and large group study rooms, as well as labs and large seminar rooms, they can pursue further excellence in teaching, service, studies and research.”

A Museum Studies student works on a display at the exhibition wall (photo by Charlotte Gagnier)

Gone, for the most part, are the days of endless study carrels. Instead, the space is using more open, wider tables that allow students to spread out their books. The tables also have easy-to-access electrical outlets.

The Semaphore Demo Room on the fourth floor will be a bookable space for events and design activities that focus on emerging technologies. For example, it’s been used recently for virtual reality demonstrations.

Both floors have been updated with new seating, more interactive classroom spaces and futuristic-looking group study hubs, each custom-built to tuck into the polygonal shapes in the north-facing windows of the Claude Bissell building, which is part of the Robarts complex.

The seven hubs, which feature their own motion-sensitive lighting, outlets and table space are often filled with people working together on assignments.

“They’re the second most popular spots here after the individual pods,” said Kathleen O’Brien, communications and development officer for the faculty. “Students are encouraged to gather and talk about their projects.”

A virtual reality demonstration at the iSchool (photo by Charlotte Gagnier)

Virtual Reality

Virtual and augmented reality can temporarily change the way people perceive distances: Study

U of T researcher uses VR to improve mental health of urban refugees, displaced youth

Researchers at U of T Mississauga tap immersive technologies to improve palliative care

U of T Mississauga course turns lens – and virtual reality headsets – on East Asian cinema

U of T researchers explore virtual reality as a microbiology teaching aid

U of T graduate student delivers first virtual reality biochemistry lecture

Rise of the machines: U of T emerges as "ground zero" for the next wave of transformative technologies

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at U of T

Taking video games to the next level: U of T’s Steve Engels on this year’s student game design showcase

Read more about Level Up Showcase

Not just for gamers: U of T anesthesiologists taking virtual reality to patients facing surgery

New look for U of T's Faculty of Information