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Poster: Use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality(VR) to tackle 4 amongst the “14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century” identified by National Academy of Engineering

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Student Division Technical Session 2

Tagged Division

Student

Page Count

3

DOI

10.18260/1-2--37589

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/37589

Download Count

438

Paper Authors

biography

Bibhav Bhattarai Auburn University

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Graduate Research Assistant, Auburn University

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Edward W. Davis Auburn University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-5413-5398

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Edward W. Davis received his PhD from the University of Akron in 1996. He worked in the commercial plastics industry for 11 years, including positions with Shell Chemicals in Louvain-la-Nueve Belgium and EVALCA in Houston TX. He joined the faculty at Auburn University in the fall of 2007. In 2014 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer. He has regularly taught courses in three different engineering departments. In 2015 he began his current position as an Assistant Professor in the Materials Engineering Program.

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Joni M. Lakin University of Alabama Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-0546-0554

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Joni M. Lakin, Ph.D. The University of Iowa, is Associate Professor of Educational Research at the University of Alabama. Her research interests include educational assessment, educational evaluation methods, and increasing diversity in STEM fields.

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Virginia A. Davis Auburn University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3126-3893

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Dr.Virginia A. Davis’ research is primarily focused on using fluid phase processing to assemble cylindrical nanomaterials into larger functional materials. Targeted applications include optical coatings, 3D printed structures, light-weight composites, and antimicrobial surfaces. Her national awards include selection for the Fulbright Specialist Roster (2015), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum’s Young Investigator Award (2012), the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2010), and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2009). Her Auburn University awards include the Excellence in Faculty Outreach (2015), an Auburn University Alumni Professorship (2014), the Auburn Engineering Alumni Council Awards for Senior (2013) and Junior (2009) Faculty Research, the Faculty Women of Distinction Award (2012), and the Mark A. Spencer Creative Mentorship Award (2011). Dr. Davis is the past chair of Auburn’s Women in Science and Engineering Steering Committee (WISE) and the faculty liaison to the College of Engineering’s 100 Women Strong Alumnae organization which is focused on recruiting, retaining and rewarding women in engineering. She was also the founding advisor for Auburn’s SHPE chapter.
Dr. Davis earned her Ph.D. from Rice University in 2006 under the guidance of Professor Matteo Pasquali and the late Nobel Laureate Richard E. Smalley. Prior to attending Rice, Dr. Davis worked for eleven years in Shell Chemicals’ polymer businesses in the US and Europe. Her industrial assignments included manufacturing, technical service, research, and global marketing management; all of these assignments were focused on enabling new polymer formulations to become useful consumer products.

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Daniela Marghitu Auburn University

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Dr. Daniela Marghitu is a faculty member in the Computer Science and Software Engineering Department at Auburn University, where she has worked since 1996. She has published seven Information Technology textbooks, over 100 peer reviewed journal articles and conference papers, and she gave numerous presentations at national and international professional events in USA, Canada, England, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Romania. She is the founder director of the Auburn University Educational and Assistive Technology Laboratory (LEAT), Co-PI of NSF EEC "RFE Design and Development: Framing Engineering as Community Activism for Values-Driven Engineeringan", Co-PI of NSF CISE "EAGER: An Accessible Coding Curriculum for Engaging Underserved Students with Special Needs in Afterschool Programs", institutional partner of AccessComputing (http://www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/), AccessCS10k and AccessEngineering NSF funded Alliances, CO-PI of NSF INCLUDES: South East Alliance for Persons with Disabilities in STEM (https://cws.auburn.edu/apspi/pm/includes), CO-PI and Technology Coordinator of the NSF Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM (https://cws.auburn.edu/apspi/pm/stem), the PI of NSF Computer Science for All (http://cs4all.eng.auburn.edu),. She is the recipient of the 2011 AccessComputing Capacity Building Award, the 2012 Auburn University Access award, the 2012 SDPS Outstanding Achievement Award, the 2013 Microsoft Fuse Research award, the 2015 DO-IT Trailblazer award, the 2017 IARIA Fellowship, the 2017 SDPS Fellowship, and the 2019 Samuel Ginn College of Engineering 100+ Women Strong Leadership in Diversity Faculty Award.

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Abstract

Poster: Use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality(VR) to tackle 4 amongst the “14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century” identified by National Academy of Engineering

This poster presents the use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) to tackle 4 amongst the “14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century” identified by National Academy of Engineering. AR and VR are the technologies of the present and the future. AR creates a composite view by adding digital content to a real world view, often by using the camera of a smartphone and VR creates an immersive view where the user’s view is often cut off from the real world. The 14 challenges identify areas of science and technology that are achievable and sustainable to assist people and the planet to prosper. The 4 challenges tackled using AR/VR application in this poster are: Enhance virtual reality, Advance personalized learning, Provide access to clean water, and Make solar energy affordable. The solar system VR application is aimed at tackling two of the engineering challenges: (1) Enhance virtual reality and (2) Advance personalized learning. The VR application assists the user in visualizing and understanding our solar system by using a VR headset. It includes an immersive 360 degree view of our solar system where the user can use controllers to interact with celestial bodies-related information and to teleport to different points in the space to have a closer look at the planets and the Sun. The user has six degrees of freedom. The AR application for water tackles the engineering challenge: “Provide access to clean water”. The AR water application shows information on drinking water accessibility and the eco-friendly usage of bottles over plastic cups within the department buildings inside Auburn University. The user of the application has an augmented view of drinking water information on a smartphone. Every time the user points the smartphone camera towards a building, the application will render a composite view with drinking water information associated to the building. The Sun path visualization AR application tackles the engineering challenge: “Make solar energy affordable”. The application helps the user visualize sun path at a selected time and location. The sun path is augmented in the camera view of the device when the user points the camera towards the sky. The application provides information on sun altitude and azimuth. Also, it provides the user with sunrise and sunset data for a selected day. The information provided by the application can aid the user with effective solar panel placement. Using AR and VR technology to tackle these challenges enhances the user experience. The information from these applications are better curated and easily visualized, thus readily understandable by the end user. Therefore, usage of AR and VR technology to tackle these type of engineering challenges looks promising.

Bhattarai, B., & Davis, E. W., & Lakin, J. M., & Davis, V. A., & Marghitu, D. (2021, July), Poster: Use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality(VR) to tackle 4 amongst the “14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century” identified by National Academy of Engineering Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37589

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