As I’m sure you know, the Neumann Library is undergoing an extensive renovation project. You can follow the project on the library website. The renovation includes new carpet and furniture, more device charging stations, and new lights and ceiling tiles. The library will also be adding some new facilities, such as a large presentation area, an Active Learning Classroom, and an XR Lab.
So, what is an XR Lab? An XR Lab is a facility where students and faculty can use new technologies that fall under the term Extended Reality or XR. XR technologies currently include three main categories: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality. These technologies are related in that they all enhance the way we interact with our environment, but each one does it in a unique way.
- Virtual Reality (VR) technology is the most common and has been around in some form since the 1990s. VR technology is fully immersive, completely replacing the user’s environment. Users typically wear some form of goggles or a helmet, which present video and audio to the user. The user may also hold a controller in one or both hands, allowing them to move within and interact with the virtual environment. A VR experience presents the user with a fully-realized 360-degree environment, allowing them to experience times, places, and events in a way that is very different from reading a book or watching a film. I have used VR as an educator and have had a couple of exceptionally compelling experiences, including floating around the International Space Station and sitting in Michael Collins’ seat on Apollo 11. Other VR experiences include tours of famous international landmarks and museums, recreations of significant historical events, and interactive games.
- Augmented Reality (AR) technology presents the user with a way to interact with their current environment in a new way. Rather than requiring users to isolate themselves from their surroundings with goggles or a helmet, AR uses the built-in cameras on small devices such as a mobile phone or tablet to overlay information or objects on the “real world.” For example, an AR app may allow users in a museum to hold up their phone to a painting and read information about it, or a game may allow you to control a race car as it races through your house. My car actually has a kind of AR technology in the form of a heads-up display that presents information such as my speed, vehicle information, or even navigation directions within my field of view as I drive so I don’t have to take my eyes off the road.
- Mixed Reality (MR) is the newest of the XR technologies. It is essentially a combination of VR and AR technologies, allowing the user to interact with both real-world and virtual objects simultaneously. MR technology can enable the user to interact with items that may be difficult or impossible any other way—for example, handling a prototype of a new product without having to produce a physical object or training to use a delicate (and expensive) piece of equipment.
