The headsets and flat screens are used in conjunction with each other.   The software we're working with was developed in the lab by students working on a capstone project for their Software Engineering degree.   Several people in headsets can be networked into a single collaborative experience.   The large screens allow us to stream a view from the point of view of any of the headsets out to a larger audience.  

On the NCAT website you can find a white paper developed by the NCAT team, following our first social VR pilot project experience for an Educator Workshop we hosted last October.

https://ncatech.org/reports-summaries/ - Reports and Journals - White Paper - Social VR Professional Development Workshops

The white paper guides the reader through the process of developing and implementing effective and engaging social VR events that support learning, participation, and fill the void of inter-personal connections that have long been the downside of distance learning in any form.  The white paper explores the “why” and the “how to” use virtual reality in a hybrid approach even when there are no pandemics bridging the gap between current and cutting-edge teaching/learning tools. 

There are many different types of VR experiences.  The experiences discussed in the white paper specifically focus on our experiences using VR for Social Engagement which is also captured in our STEM for All Video.  We did find barriers to access, equipment, and the types of challenges you pose.  We formed a VR accessibility workgroup to identify some of these challenges and ways to address many of the issues.  When we’ve hosted sessions, we’ve linked the fully immersive environments into standards conference platforms that allow for multiple ways of accessing to allow users who may have disabilities to still have a similar experience.  These may include visual impairments, vestibular disorder, or other disabilities.  It also alleviates some of the potential challenges with bandwidth. However, if people are able to connect using standard conference tools, it seems like they’ve been able to also connect to the live VR environments.

If you check out the white paper I listed when responding to Elizabeth it has some good information discussing the experiences of participants in our events.  Our pilot experiences this year have been focused on maintaining the types of interaction and social engagement that are lost on standard conferencing platforms.  The audio is spatially engineered in the environments which allow participants to walk around the environment, from one group to the next, and spontaneously interact as you would in and out of sessions and down the hallway at an in-person conference.  One of my favorite experiences was the debrief after our October workshop in which even our facilitators and event leadership discussed the apprehension and uncertainty of how it would really work out and what the feel of the experience would be.  By all accounts; surveys and interviews of the team and participants it was a great experience. Here is some feedback from participants captured in the white paper:

“Free rein to access site ahead of event for exploration, familiarity, practice, comfort.”

“Getting people into the site early prevented problems and decreased anxiety.”

“You are more tuned in and engaged because of VR.”

“You can tell when someone takes off their goggles, so you know if they are still participating.”

“The social experience was enjoyable, especially since we are so limited with social experiences right now. Would love to have another VR workshop!”

“Social/virtual experience showing emotions. People were good about asking questions. Fun to send messages to each other. Do things like gather in the lobby throwing snowballs.”

“Leaving the VR environment, I walked out the door like I would at a real conference. As opposed to just taking off the headset and having my avatar bow her head!”

“The interaction with others in the virtual conference was positive. Felt like I was more in a conference environment than just doing a screen sharing presentation/Zoom meeting.”

“Having a sidebar conversation with people one on one to answer questions. Some folks do not like to ask questions in front of the whole group. This environment allowed follow up conversations with individuals -- a great feature.”

“Going to workshop or conference, an important part of it is networking. Technical/professional discussions and things of that nature that occur inside the room or in the hallways outside the room (of the presentation). Can that magic still occur in virtual world? It did occur!”

“Skeptic turned cheerleader for VR.”

“We are all Zoomed out, so it was refreshing to have something different.”

 

Our plan for this year is to continue advancing our capabilities and participant experiences in these types of environments with a greater focus on technical-orientated activities, assessments and evaluations.  We’ve come a long way in a short period of time this year, as highlighted by supporting things such as the international MATE Virtual Season Developments.  We are looking forward to taking it to the next level this coming year.  I hope you check out the resources on our website and plug into some of the experiences.

Hello again Gerhard!

From the MATE ROV Competition perspective, we see this as increasing our capacity, reach, and accessibility in this time of COVID - and beyond! Inevitably each year we have teams that can't make it to the World Championship because they don't qualify, can't afford the trip, or have restrictions (this mainly applies to our international teams).  Giving those participants the opportunity to come together for a "shared experience" and have the social interaction and peer-to-peer networking that we know they appreciate and value about the competition event is huge for both them and us!  

Jill

At this time there is not an AI or machine learning component to this work.

Gerhard,

You can find video recordings from our pilot workshop on the NCAT website, using the link below, under the WORKSHOP RECORDINGS section halfway down the page.

https://ncatech.org/autonomous-vehicle-technology-sensors/

There are also videos on the NCAT YouTube Channel

We are working on a short clip to demonstrate the most impactful aspects we’ve found as we’ve piloted social VR experiences and immersive environments as a part of STEM outreach and educator workshops.  On the NCAT website, you can find a white paper developed by the NCAT team, following our first social VR pilot experience for an Educator Workshop we hosted last October.

https://ncatech.org/reports-summaries/- Reports and Journals - White Paper - Social VR Professional Development Workshops

I also saw your questions, and others, asking about assessing student learning outcomes, impact data and evaluation matrix.  To be honest we are not at that point yet with Social VR.  In some respects, we’re building the plane/drone as we are flying it.  Less than a year ago, we were at the start of an idea and concept to develop digital interactive environments and experiences that brought people together in new ways and might appeal to a technology savvy audience and the future technician workforce.  A global pandemic created extreme challenges, but also led our team to think outside the box. We made a pivotal shift to leverage and quickly expand the early piloting and bootstrapping initiatives of developing digital learning tools and immersive environments for STEM outreach and educator workshop activities.  Leading up to these experiences, there were uncertainties and discomfort thinking about how it would all work (even from the internal team).  If you review the white paper referenced above, you’ll see by all accounts it was a positive experience that has unlocked the doors to new ideas.

When we started thinking about a MATE Virtual World, to support the MATE ROV Competition, less than 6 months ago (really…. WOW), the team was thinking about goals and outcomes from the MATE competition perspective and how we could define success for our first major milestones:

We created the MATE ROV Competition VR World to enable students and mentors to experience the competition even if they are not able to be there in person and to facilitate the social interaction, peer-to-peer networking, and “shared experience” that student’s value and appreciate about the MATE ROV Competition – and are especially craving during the pandemic.

On May 1st and 2nd, we connected the MATE Virtual World, to the physical event held at Gray's Reef - Southeast Regional ROV Competition.  The team tested and piloted new developments adding features such as live streaming into the Virtual World from the underwater pool cameras and the event commentators.  You can access the recording of the LIVESTREAM as it was viewed in the MATE ROV Auditorium in AltSpace by visiting https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1007250239 (the "action" starts about 46 minutes in!).  At 2 hours, you’ll see a picture in picture, with Jill Zande and Cathy Sakas commentating inside the underwater pool view presenting in virtual space.  Stay tuned for the upcoming events and continuous advancements of the social interaction and experiences leading to the World Competition in August and our future analysis as to whether we have reached the goal of how we initially defined success.

Ning,

That is a great question.  We are still working on the assessment components.  See my response to Gerhard above.

Susan, 

Thank you so much for your kind words and support of this endeavor!  NOAA has been an amazing, longtime MATE partner.  We're excited to see where this takes us beyond the 2021 competition season!

Jill