Augmenting the science centre and museum experience

The recent advances in computer graphics has spurred interest from both academics and industries in virtual reality (VR) enabled training applications. This paper presents a desktop VR prototype for industrial training applications. It is designed and implemented as a general shell by providing the data interface to import both the virtual environment models and specific domain knowledge. The geometric models of the virtual environment are constructed using feature-based modelling and assembly function by external CAD tools, and then transferred into the prototype through a conversion module. A hierarchical structure is proposed to partition and organise these imported virtual environment models. Based on this structure, a visibility culling approach is developed for fast rendering and user interaction. The case study has demonstrated the functionality of the proposed prototype system by applying it to a maintenance training application for a refinery bump system, which, in general, has a large number of polygons and a certain depth complexity. Significant speedup in both context rendering and response to user manipulations has been achieved to provide the user with a fast system response within the desktop virtual environment. Compared with the immersive VR system, the proposed system has offered an affordable and portable training media for industrial applications.

Extended-Reality Technologies: An Overview of Emerging Applications in Medical Education and Clinical Care.

This talk will concentrate on how some of the recent advances in computer graphics and vision fit into a visual effects pipeline and their application for digitizing props. The production of movies often requires digitizing physical properties of various props. At Weta Digital we model, texture, and shade thousands of props in immense detail. We present a vision-based pipeline for digitizing props that requires far less user input than previous methods. This vision based pipeline fully automates the process of creating virtual cameras, reference geometry, and texture maps, which is then used by our artists to create the final assets at a much faster rate.

Novel view synthesis of remote sensing scenes is of great significance for scene visualization, human-computer interaction, and various downstream applications. Despite the recent advances in computer graphics and photogrammetry technology, generating novel views is still challenging particularly for remote sensing images due to its high complexity, view sparsity and limited view-perspective variations. In this paper, we propose a novel remote sensing view synthesis method by leveraging the recent advances in implicit neural representations. Considering the overhead and far depth imaging of remote sensing images, we represent the 3D space by combining implicit multiplane images (MPI) representation and deep neural networks. The 3D scene is reconstructed under a self-supervised optimization paradigm through a differentiable multiplane renderer with multi-view input constraints. Images from any novel views thus can be freely rendered on the basis of the reconstructed model. As a by-product, the depth maps corresponding to the given viewpoint can be generated along with the rendering output. We refer to our method as Implicit Multiplane Images (ImMPI). To further improve the view synthesis under sparse-view inputs, we explore the learning-based initialization of remote sensing 3D scenes and proposed a neural network based Prior extractor to accelerate the optimization process. In addition, we propose a new dataset for remote sensing novel view synthesis with multi-view real-world google earth images. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of the ImMPI over previous state-of-the-art methods in terms of reconstruction accuracy, visual fidelity, and time efficiency. Ablation experiments also suggest the effectiveness of our methodology design. Our dataset and code can be found at https://github.com/wyc-Chang/ImMPI

This study explores the integration of mobile Augmented Reality (AR) applications within the context of the National Museum of Malaysia, focusing on enhancing the educational experience for visitors. The project aims to address the challenge of enhancing museum experiences through innovative technologies. The research problem centers on designing an AR application for the National Museum of Malaysia to enrich the visitor engagement and understanding, as stemmed from the decline in museum visitors, with the National Museum of Malaysia experiencing a staggering 70% drop in income in 2020 and 2021. Utilizing Unity Editor and other libraries, the project developed the National Museum AR App, featuring four distinct AR experiences corresponding to different exhibits within the museum. Methods involve AR content creation, user testing, and data analysis. Overall, findings suggest that the AR application effectively meets visitors' learning needs and enhances the educational value of museum exhibits by providing unique AR features. The significance of the project lies in its potential to transform cultural heritage tourism by bridging the gap between traditional museum experiences and digital engagement. The study also serves as a preliminary investigation to guide the future development and deployment of AR applications within the museum setting.

The combination of technology Augmented Reality (AR) with educational content aims to create new ideas that can improve the effectiveness and attractiveness of teaching and learning for students in real-life scenarios. The use of AR technology can make theprocess of teaching and learning more enjoyable, in which students' interest in learning can be stimulated. The AR technology has three characteristics. The first feature is that AR technology is a combination of virtual objects with the real world. The second feature is that AR operates in real time and interactively. The last feature is that it has 3 dimensions (3D) for virtual objects. In this study, the ADDIE model includes five phases, namely Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation, which are utilised to develop applications based on AR technology in education for the topic of Current and Voltage Division. To identify the effectiveness of the application of AR technology, a survey using questionnaire was conducted among pre-serviceteachers to know their perceptions of the development of AR applications namely as Voltrent AR. As this is a quantitative study where questionnaires were distributed to 73 students from the class of Bachelor of Technology with Education (Electric and Electronics) with Honours and Bachelor of Technology with Education (Living Skills) with Honours at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Skudai, Johor. Most respondents gave very positive feedback on the use of AR in education, especially for the topic of Current and Voltage Division. AR is viewed as a medium of instruction that is innovative, interesting and effective. Voltrent AR application development is successfully developed based on the ADDIE model, and the application development of the constructivism theory was applied in this AR application. Thus, the AR application development has reached the desired objective of producing application-based Augmented Reality as a teaching aid.

There is a growing interest for the broad use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in the fields of bioinformatics and cheminformatics to visualize complex biological and chemical structures. AR and VR technologies allow for stunning and immersive experiences, offering untapped opportunities for both research and education purposes. However, preparing 3D models ready to use for AR and VR is time-consuming and requires a technical expertise that severely limits the development of new contents of potential interest for structural biologists, medicinal chemists, molecular modellers and teachers. Herein we present the RealityConvert software tool and associated website, which allow users to easily convert molecular objects to high quality 3D models directly compatible for AR and VR applications. For chemical structures, in addition to the 3D model generation, RealityConvert also generates image trackers, useful to universally call and anchor that particular 3D model when used in AR applications. The ultimate goal of RealityConvert is to facilitate and boost the development and accessibility of AR and VR contents for bioinformatics and cheminformatics applications. http://www.realityconvert.com. dfourch@ncsu.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

The perceptual behavior of consumers on a product displayed in the market has a vital role in analyzing the importance given to that product. Therefore, various strategies have been developed to understand this consumer behavior in the selection of products. Immersive technologies like virtual, augmented, and mixed reality are among them. With the foremost feature of immersion in the virtual world and interaction of users with virtual objects, virtual reality, and augmented reality have unlocked their potential in research and a user-friendly tool for analyzing consumer behavior. In addition to these technologies, mixed reality also has a significant role in investigating consumer behavior. Studies on immersive technologies in food applications are vast, hence this review focuses on the applications of virtual, augmented, and mixed reality in the food selection behavior of consumers. The behavioral studies are elicited to develop new products based on consumer needs, to understand the shopping behavior in supermarkets for real-time usage, and to know the influence of emotions in a selection of products. The findings suggest that virtual, augmented, and mixed reality induce immersion of the users in food selection behavioral studies. Information on the technological advancements in the tools used for bringing immersion and interaction are discussed for its futuristic applications in food. Though immersive technology gives users a realistic virtual environment experience, its application in food systems is in the budding stage. More research on human response studies would contribute to its innovative and inevitable application in the future.

Augmented reality technologies undertake focus role which provide opportunity to harmonize the earthilyreality with virtual field and evaluate their integral elements.The very first examples of augmented realityapplications are viewers on the head,simulators,wearable tools,pocket PCs,desktop PCs and cameras whichare integrated externally but augmented reality applications have gain a great acceleration by developingtechnologies such as internet,becoming popular for the mobile devices and their mobile applicationsaccordingly and especially by the appearance of the smart wears and increase on their functions.Augmentedreality applications that are often used in defence,industry,medicine,trade and entertainment are now startedto be used in the education.Augmented reality applications achieve deep learning of the systems or objectswhich are hard to learn by attracting attention and cares of the students by providing their different viewsduring teaching and learning process.Also these applications supports students to use their creativity byexpanding their imagination.Especially if we consider today’s students are digital natives(Y and Z generation) who grow up in the multimedia world and inside the technology,it is a reality that augmented reality applications which have rich content in the learning-teaching environments can have a role that increase themotivations of the students instead of a classic course book. In the light of these information, in this study theresearch and application samples of augmented reality which is now used widely in teaching and learningprocess the effect of augmented reality on teaching and learning is handled.Keywords: Augmented reality, augmented reality applications in education

With Generation Z becoming the primary group of nursing learners and the increasing shortage of nursing education resources, augmented reality and mixed reality based on head-mounted displays are being used more and more in nursing education. However, the current application landscape and the proper usage of these concepts remain unclear. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a scoping review to explore the current applications of head-mounted display-based augmented reality and mixed reality in nursing education and to clarify the definitions and usage of the concepts of augmented reality and mixed reality, ultimately providing directions for future applications and research. Based on the five-stage framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, a comprehensive collection and summarization of evidence regarding the application of head-mounted display-based augmented reality and mixed reality in nursing education were conducted. The databases retrieved include CNKI, Wanfang Database, VIP, CBM, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Ei. The languages of the included literature are Chinese and English. The retrieval was up to October 2024. A total of 44 studies were included in this review, covering three types of head-mounted displays: immersive head-mounted displays, smart glasses, and smartphone-based head-mounted displays. The main application areas were skills training and knowledge acquisition. Most of the studies were feasibility studies, though they also included some efficacy studies and research on personal experiences. In addition, these studies often employed vague or inconsistent definitions of augmented reality and mixed reality. Despite various explorations in the application of head-mounted display-based augmented reality and mixed reality in nursing education, there is still room for improvement in the relevant theory and utilization of this technology. In the future, interventions should use the three dimensions (observation of reality, real - virtual interaction, and fidelity of virtuality) described in detail, rather than simply employing the concepts of augmented reality or mixed reality. Efforts should be concentrated on developing and implementing head-mounted displays combined with other technologies that boast enhanced performance and cost - effectiveness, and further validating their effectiveness.

Computational thinking (CT) skills are increasingly important in education to prepare students for the challenges of the digital age. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have been introduced as immersive technologies that have the potential to enhance CT skills through more interactive learning experiences. However, there is still a gap in understanding the effectiveness of these technologies in supporting the development of CT, particularly in different levels of education and disciplines. Although several studies have highlighted the benefits of AR and VR in education, no systematic review integrates these findings to identify advantages, challenges, and opportunities for further implementation. Therefore, this study conducted a systematic review based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines by analyzing 25 empirical studies (AR=17, VR=8) obtained from the Scopus database (2008-2024). The analysis addresses four key research questions: (1) the current state of AR/VR in CT development, (2) their advantages, (3) implementation challenges, and (4) future research directions. The results show that AR is more widespread than VR at various levels of education, with dominance in higher education followed by secondary and primary schools. Computer science is the main field of application of AR and VR, while AR is also widely applied in mathematics to increase interest and problem-solving. A total of 11 studies reported significant impacts of these technologies on CT, with AR being superior in increasing student motivation and engagement, as well as aiding in problem-solving and debugging. In contrast, VR provides a more immersive learning experience by strengthening concept understanding, especially in programming and recursion. However, several obstacles in the application of AR and VR, such as hardware limitations, costs, and user skills, affect the effectiveness of these technologies in the learning environment. This study also identified potential future research, including the exploration of VR in primary and kindergarten education, the application of VR in non-computer science fields, and the efficient use of these technologies in supporting the CT process. This study provides more precise insights into the optimal ways of utilizing AR and VR in developing CT skills. It is a reference for educators, policymakers, and researchers in supporting CT learning.

Augmented Reality (AR) is the process of integrating virtual elements in reality, often by mixing computer graphics into a live video stream of a real scene. It requires registration of the target object with respect to the cameras. To this end, some approaches rely on dedicated hardware, such as magnetic trackers or infra-red cameras, but they are too expensive and cumbersome to reach a large public. Others are based on specifically designed markers which usually look like bar-codes. However, they alter the look of objects to be augmented, thereby hindering their use in application for which visual design matters. Recent advances in Computer Vision have made it possible to track and detect objects by relying on natural features. However, no such method is commonly used in the AR community, because the maturity of available packages is not sufficient yet. As far as deformable surfaces are concerned, the choice is even more limited, mainly because initialization is so difficult. Our main contribution is therefore a new AR framework that can properly augment deforming surfaces in real-time. Its target platform is a standard PC and a single webcam. It does not require any complex calibration procedure, making it perfectly suitable for novice end-users. To satisfy to the most demanding application designers, our framework does not require any scene engineering, renders virtual objects illuminated by real light, and let real elements occlude virtual ones. To meet this challenge, we developed several innovative techniques. Our approach to real-time registration of a deforming surface is based on wide-baseline feature matching. However, traditional outlier elimination techniques such as RANSAC are unable to handle the non-rigid surface's large number of degrees of freedom. We therefore proposed a new robust estimation scheme that allows both 2–D and 3–D non-rigid surface registration. Another issue of critical importance in AR to achieve realism is illumination handling, for which existing techniques often require setup procedures or devices such as reflective spheres. By contrast, our framework includes methods to estimate illumination for rendering purposes without sacrificing ease of use. Finally, several existing approaches to handling occlusions in AR rely on multiple cameras or can only deal with occluding objects modeled beforehand. Our requires only one camera and models occluding objects at runtime. We incorporated these components in a consistent and flexible framework. We used it to augment many different objects such as a deforming T-shirt or a sheet of paper, under challenging conditions, in real-time, and with correct handling of illumination and occlusions. We also used our non-rigid surface registration technique to measure the shape of deformed sails. We validated the ease of deployment of our framework by distributing a software package and letting an artist use it to create two AR applications.

This study investigates the benefits of augmented reality (AR) in the tourism industry and its impact on data security. The background of the research highlights that information technology is becoming increasingly important in the tourism industry, with augmented reality (AR) being a major focus for enhancing visitor experiences. In this context, concerns about user data protection arise since AR applications may require personal information such as user location and travel preferences. A comparative research method was used to compare two popular augmented reality (AR) applications: Smartify, Arts and Culture, Zome, Augmented Reality, Maps AR, Guideo, and AR Trial. The results indicate that most applications have adequate data security policies, including data transfer encryption and user control over their data. Zome was found to be the best in terms of data security and user privacy, scoring 90% in the assessment. This research underscores the importance of using AR applications to maintain data security and user privacy in the tourism industry and suggests further research to learn more about the data privacy practices of AR applications.

It is thought that it would be appropriate to use augmented reality technology, which provides many educational advantages for effective environmental education. This research aims to examine the effect of environmental education using augmented reality (AR) applications on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of primary school third-grade students towards the environment and to find out the children's views on AR. The case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. The research was carried out with seventeen primary school third-grade students from a public school in the 2021-2022 academic year. Environmental education was given to the selected class with augmented reality applications for six weeks. The data were collected with the ‘Semi-Structured Interview Form’ prepared by the researcher. Content analysis technique was used in the analysis of the data. According to the findings obtained from the interviews; it has been concluded that environmental education using AR applications is effective in the knowledge, attitude, behavior, and environmental awareness of third-grade students towards the environment. In addition to these, in the interviews; it has been determined that students have positive emotions towards AR reality applications; they want to use the applications in other lessons; AR applications facilitate their learning and positively affect their approaches towards living / non-living beings, the environment and environmental problems.

The purpose of teaching aid is important to attract students to always be active in the classroom. It is important to focus on educational activities among students such as the usage of teaching aid during the teaching and learning process. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify the usability of augmented reality (AR) application 'Fertigation System' among form 1 students of SMK Behrang 2020 who took Design and Technology subject. The application was developed using the ADDIE model which has five phases including analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The design of the studies used was quantitative method (survey method). The instrument of study used was a questionnaire. In the first phase (Analysis), a questionnaire that was endorsed by experts was distributed to 35 respondents to identify the needs of the AR application development. In this phase, there were 72% of respondents agreed the needs of the AR application development. For the next phases, an AR 'Fertigation System' has been designed and developed. A questionnaire was distributed together with the AR application that has been developed and verified by three experts from different fields (language, education, content). After that, a pilot study was conducted among 50 students of form 1 who took Design and Technology subject at SMK Behrang 2020 as respondents for improvement purposes (Implementation phase). For the final phase (Evaluation), a questionnaire and application of AR 'Fertigation System' which has been verified and improved was distributed to 76 respondents comprising form 1 students who took Design and Technology subject at SMK Behrang 2020. The results of this study showed that 62.72% of the respondents strongly agreed with the usability of the AR application 'Fertigation System'. All data obtained was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to obtain the average value, percentage, frequency and standard deviation. In conclusion, the results of this study show that the AR application of the 'Fertigation System' that has been developed can be used among form 1 students who took Design and Technology subject at SMK Behrang 2020, Perak.