HoloBall
Virtual Biology Learning Platform with a Projective Tangible Interface
Biology is the most basic scientific discipline that directly relates to our bodies and lives. And biology education generally uses various kinds of teaching materials. HoloBALL offers virtual models with tangible interfaces to enable students to learn biology; this interface provides them with the feel of performing experiments in a real laboratory without killing any living organisms.
Director and Supervisor: Toshikazu OHSHIMA
Programmer and Designer: Takeru WATANABE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1c7dGy_SkA&feature=emb_title
Biology is the most basic scientific discipline that directly relates to our bodies and lives. And biology education generally uses various kinds of teaching materials. HoloBALL offers virtual models with tangible interfaces to enable students to learn biology; this interface provides them with the feel of performing experiments in a real laboratory without killing any living organisms. The first basic requirement of the interface is to be safe and robust for use by youngsters. Secondly, the virtual reality experience should be shareable among users. Therefore, we adopted a projective MR (mixed-reality) and a tangible user interface.
The system uses projection mapping onto a handheld screen, which is covered with a transparent sphere. The sphere is tracked using an optical tracker. A biology model can be seen in the sphere. The projector and the tracker device are rigged at positions higher than the users. The ultrasonic parametric speaker is rigged so that the sound synchronized with the virtual object is projected onto the sphere and reflected from it. The outside-in architecture provides a tangible user experience and natural multi-user participation without the users having to hold any electrical, mechanical, or fragile devices in their hands. And the users can share the visual and auditory experiences in the real space and communicate among themselves in face-to-face situations.
Users can interact with the HoloBALL system by holding the HoloBALL sphere and moving it. By tilting or rotating the sphere, the users can view an object from various viewpoints as though the object was within the sphere. HoloBALL virtually integrates the various biology materials and provides functions that enable users to observe virtual objects from various angles. The various HoloBALL functions help observe the life cycles, structures, and behavior modes of organisms.
https://gyazo.com/989993a35784d45dcde3ed047ccf2380
MESSAGE:
Unfortunately, because of the situation, this work still has not been demonstrated on site at conferences.
We'd like to show you this work elsewhere, such as SIGGRAPH ASIA 2021, Tokyo. See you soon!
Laval Virtual ReVolution 2020 winners
VRDays in Europe 2020, Winners of Halo Awards 2020
Best Research Application – Holoball