Fall 2022
Virtually — from all perspectives
Chris Chin blurs the lines between architecture in the real world and environments in the virtual world. » More ...
Virtual reality
Winter 2020
Travel the VR world
Interest in virtual reality tourism has shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are a few opportunities for people to “visit” and experience the world.
Read more about WSU research into VR tourism.
The WSUAA will be adding VR travel experiences for members. They recently featured a visit to Bolivia to see llamas.
The company makes commercial VR and augmented reality (AR) experiences, such as listening to a symphony and riding in an F1 race car.
National Geographic via Oculus
The stunning imagery of National Geographic takes … » More …
Winter 2020
Being there
As 2020 pandemic travel restrictions crippled airlines, cruise ships, hotels, and Airbnbs, the shutdown proved to be an unexpected boon for the virtual reality market, which reports a big spike in interest. » More ...
Fall 2019
What’s missing in video gaming
Video games and gaming technology offer good, bad, and ugly aspects: potential for innovative education, but often racist and misogynistic stereotypes in some games. Washington State University faculty research all those dimensions. » More ...
Summer 2018
Virtually yours
How do you walk through a building in Atlanta when you’re in a classroom in Pullman?
If you can’t be there physically, virtual reality can deliver a new level of engagement, whether it’s watching Shaun White’s snowboard whoosh inches from your head, or working collaboratively on construction projects with students from Georgia.
Virtual reality is also a rapidly growing business. There were an estimated seven million VR headsets in 2016, which is expected to balloon to 47 million by 2020.
That acceleration has pushed companies like Intel to ramp up their VR offerings, including the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. The VR technology … » More …
Spring 2017
Learning that’s virtually fun
Graceful tropical fish circle around me as a sea turtle glides overhead. Slowly and steadily, hundreds of pink jellyfish swarm from behind and a curious striped creature moves in for a better look at what I assume is my virtual reality headset. In awe, I blindly reach out and it pulls away with alarm. The scene is so realistic I’m speechless.
Don McMahon is laughing. “You look pretty engaged right now,” says the director of the Washington State University Neurodiversity Lab located in the College of Education. “Fun is engaging and engaged students learn,” he’s been intoning, seemingly miles away in the background.
McMahon … » More …
Summer 2016
Putting feeling into the digital world
A new touchstone for virtual reality
On its own, the gleaming silver skeletal hand looks like a disembodied limb from The Terminator. Strap it on a human and it becomes a glove to grasp things within virtual, computer-generated worlds.
Hakan Gurocak, the mechanical engineering professor at Washington State University Vancouver who designed the glove with his former graduate student Randy Bullion, says the haptic interface can be used in conjunction with virtual reality headsets and position sensors to add a new sense of touch to the experience of being in a digital environment.
More than just immersive computer games or movies, virtual reality and … » More …