Adjacent to UCF’s main campus, the College of Nursing is located in
the heart of Central Florida Research Park and occupies three floors in
University Tower. All guests should check-in with the receptionist on the third
floor.
Research Park, as it’s more commonly known, is a ‘campus-like’
environment with businesses ranging from digital communications to military
defense. It is the nation’s largest cluster of military training companies and
many of the employees in Research Park work with UCF researchers and students
on projects in the sciences, engineering, photonics and optics, modeling and
simulation, and health- related fields including nursing.
Classrooms
During the learning process, the student is heavily influenced by the
environment. Knowing this, we have designed our classrooms for maximum comfort
and minimum interference while being outfitted with the latest technology.
One classroom has 40 seats with a smart board. Another has 87 seats
with dual projection screens, providing excellent access to presentations. Our
largest classroom has 144 seats.
Not the stuffy rooms found in other colleges, these modern
smart-classrooms have great tree-lined views of the surrounding area. You will
love learning here.
Simulation Suite
Students will prepare for a real hospital setting in the Simulation
Suite. The suite features a floor desk, three fully functional simulation
rooms, a Pyxis automated medicine dispenser and a crash cart.
Within each room is a highly responsive manikin, some of which can sweat
and even dilate their eyes. The manikin is nursed by a team of students while
the instructor can control and provide a voice for the simulated patient in a
nearby room. Simulations can be recorded for learning purposes.
After a simulated procedure, students report to a nearby debriefing
room where the instructor provides valuable insight on how they managed the
patient experience. This allows students to learn and make mistakes in a safe
environment, with the aid of a minute-by-minute video review.
Friday, April 18, 2014
AugmentedSupplemented Reality
By Jason Crews
Maggie smiles as she leaves her first class of the day. She has caught up on enough work to afford herself some downtime. With 3 hours till her next class, she turns to her cell phone for entertainment. She taps the icon to a new game she had downloaded, called Project U - World. It is a game like no other, a game that is known to consume lives.
"I don't have time for that!" she told the friend who recommended it. She is wary of starting something like World of Warcraft that chomps away countless hours, hours that should be devoted to her pre-med studies.
"It's not like that." he said. "Your life is the game!"
Curious, she set up an account.
Unsure of the next step, she sets it down and opens a textbook.
Unlike virtual reality, which attempts to create a world of its own, augmented reality (AR) utilizes digital information to heighten reality through devices like smart phones or digital eye pieces, such as Google Glass. Virtual reality has been compared to a movie theatre. The environment is visually and audibly independent from the outside world. You are cocooned. Augmented reality does not try to hide the barking dog, or the plane in the sky. In fact, it would identify it as Pomeranian or detect which direction the plane is flying.
AR needs the external world. "Augmentedreality enhances a user's perception of and interaction with the real world." (Azuma, 1.3)
Our working definition of AR is taken from Hughes (3883):
"[The] merging [of] digital and physical data together in a single representation."
Let's go beyond a singular definition and get into what augmented reality needs. We will begin with Craig's four observations of AR's must-haves (15).
AR needs:
1. To allow the real world to be experienced in conjunction with the digital. The view in front of the user is either taken in by a video and reproduced or it is projected onto a transparent material.
A device was created to allow airplane pilots to keep their heads up. It became know as HUD; heads up display. Notice how the green lines move with the horizon. These lines are calculated by the on-board computer, giving the pilot additional information. This information is projected onto an translucent plastic sheet in front of the window enabling the pilot to see the the digital info overlaid on the sky/horizon in front of him. Thus, the first need is fulfilled.
A HUD device
AR is dependent on spatial awareness. Craig's second and third observations:
2. Digital objects need to be displayed in a manner that imitates real-life space.
3. The way the object is displayed changes depending of the position of the viewer.
Google Glass, a device just made available to the public, has a single eyepiece providing information to the user.
The circle on left is the camera the micro HUD in front of the eye
The actual view with the HUD display in the middle
One of its programs has a map feature (right) allowing known hiking trail options to be displayed according to the camera input. The map covers the actual scene (passes first criteria) , it is displayed like a real life trail (second criteria) and the map changes perspectives depending where it is (third criteria).
Imagine walking through Hong Kong for the first time, with more knowledge than a native.
The last criteria, which all examples also adhere to, is:
4. The digital content is interactive.
It is not a movie playing in front of the eyes. It is actually something you can engage with beyond your geo-spatial placement. You can change settings and control how it functions.
In this blog post, we will see the amazing applications that a digitally-integrated experience can have. We will follow Maggie, an upperclass pre-med student at UCF, as she traverses the exciting and frightening universe of AR gaming, a niche of the AR experience. We will see, as she does, that what should be a clear-cut separation of her digital/physical life, is not always so.
Horrified, Maggie scans around. Is Carol injured? She doesn't hear any cries. Was she abducted? Or is this just part of the -
"Welcome to Project U World," it added. "Carol Reeth was never in danger. We will pull from all parts of your digital life to a create a game. Events, contacts, even phone calls. Remember this. It is just a game. Stand by for a call from your Division Director."
We have established what AR requires. But what makes for a great AR experience? In "Next Generation Augmented Reality Browsers", Langlotz and others (156) establish 3 needs for excellence:
Rich
Seamless
Adaptive
Rich means to have lots of information in many forms. Seamless means that the digital information is overlaid in a way that does not hide real objects. It also means that the tracking/registration is sufficiently fast. Adaptive means the AR experience adapts to the situation.
Because augmented reality is a digital medium, it requires the three steps that all digital process require.
Information input.
Processing the information.
Outputting the newly processed information.
The explosion of AR technology extends beyond the much hyped Google Glass. Smart phones have "...sophisticated sensors, powerful processing
and storage capabilities, and persistent network connections that make
them ideal platforms for building AR
applications." (White, Jules and Douglas 121)
Most often, the input is a visual source, but Langlotz makes an important point. The computer does not need to recognize things from a visual sensor like Google Glass. The information could be be "based on geographic location and viewpoint information delivered from integrated sensors such as GPS, compass, and gyroscopes." (Augmented Reality Browsers, 34). These spatial methods belong to the first generation. The second generation uses optical input to make calculations.
The following examples are part of the second generation, thus relying on optical input. Having covered Google Glass, here are two other examples of AR technology.
Headset
Headsets cover the eyes entirely and can include the ear covering for audio. This technology normally skews towards virtual reality because of its isolating nature. If, however, the image in front of the view is captured with built in binocular cameras, displayed with the added digital content, we now have AR because the real world is still the dominant experience. One advantage of total video immersion is that the frame rate of the object registration can be synced with the remainder of the picture. A head-set is known as "video see-through" unlike contacts which are "optical see-through" (Craig, 97). Contacts
Google has just announced its most ambitious AR platform yet: a contact lens that can take pictures and process the scene before it.
(Photo: Mlot)
One of the problems of Google Glass has been privacy, i.e. constant recording or spying. With these contact lenses, people are much less likely to notice. Ironically, "Other possible uses for Google's smart contact lenses: facial recognition by law enforcement ..." (Mlot) With facial recognition comes the possibility of saving lives. These contact lenses could prevent tragedies and be invaluable for reconnaissanceintelligence gathering. But the discussion concerning privacy will, and must, continue.
Reality Mixology: A Confusing Cocktail
I'd like to revisit the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality. While it is glorious to have so many options and combinations of digital content, it can be confusing to explain. Let me use a diagram.
The Reality/Virtuality Continuum
(Eve, 587)
This continuum is based on two extremes, absolute reality and a completely fabricated digital realm. The area in the middle is determined by the dominant feature. Augmented reality, what we have thus far discussed, is heavy on the Real Environment. Augmented Virtuality is defined as a physically supplemented virtual environment. For example, you are wearing VR glasses in a simulation environment, in this case a green room with markers to let the headset know where to put the virtual objects. Normally, when you reach out your hand in a virtual environment, it will not feel anything because there is nothing in the real environment. In AV, we place a rod on a table, the user can pick it up and actually feel it. With the virtual reality software, it could then appear as a lightsaber in the VR headset.
The distinction is notalways made correctly. Observe this:
Many interactions with virtual objects are less intuitive than the same
interactions with their physical world
counterparts. For example, sculpting
a 3-D object out of clay may be much
more natural in the real world than in
a 3-D modeling program. An interesting facet of AR applications is the
creation of user interfaces that allow
intuitive interactions with the real
world to manipulate cyber objects,
such as a 3-D model. Arisandi et al.
present techniques for building real-world tools, such as tweezers and a
hammer that can manipulate virtual
objects. Their work investigates the
challenges and research solutions for
constructing these types of AR applications that mix real-world tooling
with cyber information interactions. (White, Jules and Douglas 121)
While it is an exciting feature to use tools to design virtual projects, using a physical tool to influence a digital work is clearly augmented virtuality, not augmented reality. Augmented means to be changed in size. Has reality truly changed in size? No. It has been added to. Augmented reality is an outdated term. It was not created with this continuum in mind. In fact, Merriam-Webster's online dictionary says that the first mention was around 1993. The original vision has changed. It has become even better. We are experiencing what AR really is, and it necessitates a new label. A more appropriate term would be Supplemented Reality. Because the dominant feature is still the "real world", we should revise it.
A surveyor walks around an empty lot. Eyes glued to his tablet, he crouches down. Bystanders wonder what he sees that they don't. Generated by the tablet, he sees how the building would be placed. He sees potential problems with the terrain. Later the developer will use the tool to choose colors and features for the exterior of the building.
With AR technology, archaeologists can recreate and visualize ancient buildings. As Eve puts it, "The importance of augmented reality for archaeology is that it makes possible the
combination of virtual elements with the real world, without necessarily making them
the focus of activity..." (587)
AR for Education
Around the country, students check out boxes of plastic anatomy pieces to study for their tests. The technology already exists for students to read an actual book and use an AR device to scan the book. With a phone or a dedicated device, students can spin a 3D model of the body part they are reading about. The process is called a Magic Book (Craig, 227). What is great about supplementing a physical object is the user intuitively knows how to manipulate it (i.e. turn a page). The AR browser can then supplement the material in a 3D manner, which a book cannot.
"The Visual Arts building!" she exclaims out loud. She knows it is just a game, but she feels a bit uneasy about the building now. _________________________________________________________
One of the problems that occurs with AR games in our everyday settings is we become confused as to how we came by the information. The Visual Arts building will forever be associated with a hint of danger. In the classic behavioral psychology study, Little Albert was taught to be afraid of white rats and other fluffy white objects such as beards because of conditioning. When the rat was present, loud noises occurred. Soon, Albert was afraid of the rat without any noise. The same is going to happen with AR games.
Paradigital Life, (PDL) a term I created for the life someone will have in the AR world, will not be distinguished by the brain from the normal life. Maggie does not have any previous experience with the Visual Arts building because she is a premed student. Combine this with a reinforcement of the game telling the VA building is a bad guy headquarter, she can't help but form a permanent negative association.
After decades of speculation, Augmented Reality is accelerating its pace. I think it will become mainstream within the next 5 years. Gone are the days of imagining how handheld scanners might work, of young kids gazing at their comics wondering when they can get a visor that can do that. We now have the power and it is time to plant the architecturalseeds. The web needed a standardized information format that is found in HTML, whereas AR currently lacks that. "While web authoring can rely on open
standards, AR content developers must target every AR
browser separately." (Next Gen. AR Browsers, 160). The good news is that groups are already trying to form standards.
"Khronos [a non profits standards group], X3D [a 3-D computer graphics standard], OGC [an international industry consortium], and W3C [an international web standards community] have already
made an effort toward conceptualizing
and defining AR, but this work is still
in a preliminary phase. Some research
groups have tried to establish formats such as ARML [Augmented Reality Markup Language] or KARML [an
AR extension to KML]" (Augmented Reality Browsers, 35)
If Augmented Reality is the future of digital interaction, which I believe it is, establishing a standardized code early is beyond important. It is paramount. It is crucial. The format should be scalable and flexible enough to accommodate future developments like controlling the interface with human thought. Without a flexible format, we run the risk of losing previous generations of data, leading to digital rot (inaccessible data). HTML has gone through multiple versions, but it is backwards compatible. The AR format requires this forethought. By bringing together companies and governments, we can form consortiums and give AR the proper start that it deserves.
Having had her fun, Maggie goes to the library to use a computer. She has been corresponding with a friend for an anatomy project. An email comes up, but not from her friend.
Agent Theia,
Your scans detected something far worse than our predictions. Since you are part of the local network there, we need you to go to the provided address and hack into the main frame. Time is of the essence. We will provide instruction through your phone.
Division Director
Astonished, she looks down at her phone, which is updating itself. She goes to the webpage. _________________________________________________________
What might come next?
There is the real environment. There is the virtual environment. And then there is everything in between. The next phase will stop trying to identify what part of the spectrum the experience falls on and simply identify it as Blended Reality, or Mixed Reality. This will be done in part for convenience as well as complete exhaustion of trying to label the experience. Another prediction is that we will stop calling something Virtual Reality. The continuum will transform itself into a "ray" with only two labels. Real Environment---------------------Mixed Reality-------------> Virtual Reality is a misnomer. We will always experience some part of the real environment. We cannot be completely separate from it. _________________________________________________________ Staring at the webpage, Maggie feels as though she is breaking a law. "Remember this. It is just a game." It's felt less and less like a game ever since she got the phone call from the supposed field director. Now she has cracks and passwords streaming to her phone, assisting and directing her how to bypass the security for this website. "No more", she mutters. She deletes the app off of her phone. An email pops up. ALERT: Agent Theia has Gone Rouge!! All nearby agents, proceed to apprehend her." A picture from her Facebook comes up. Truly terrified, she closes all of the pages and dashes out of the library. _________________________________________________________
Behind the Scenes
Created in a dorm room at another college, Project: U World combined random events in a coherent structure. Carol Reeth was randomly chosen from her contacts and the Visual Arts building was chosen from an algorithm that examined window height and length of building. The website she was told to break into was created by the students themselves. The passwords and hacks being sent to her phone were just words the website needed to respond. No actual hacking would have taken place. It was designed for amateur computer users, not real hackers. The email she received was just a thrilling way to end the game. If she was really a target, why would she have gotten the email? Had she continued, she would have gone to coordinates generated within .5 km and followed a scanner app that would have directed her in a hot/cold manner, like a metal detector, to find the spot of a future drop. At that point, she would wait for further instructions. This would allow the developers time to build more to the storyline, something they have not yet done. Some people really take to this game, others become upset. None, so far, have become bored...
Conclusion
We are coming upon an exciting era of computing. The creation of the personal computer allowed all of us access to computing power. The advent of the laptop meant we did not have to be tethered to a home computer, and the smart phone allowed for increased mobile Internet access with significantly decreased size. AR is not the next phase in the development of technology. AR is the next step in the human experience. Anthropologists will view this technology in a manner similar to the 'discovery' of fire. AR will bring technology so close to the human experience that, aside from surgically implanting a device within the eye, no other medium can become more integral to the person. That's close.
