创新催化剂

这是最具创造力的一天, forward-thinking minds of the region had been eagerly anticipating. 在周五, 6月23日, a host of industry professionals and community leaders from across southeast Michigan convened to celebrate the grand opening of 韦德体育app官网’s Augmented Reality Center (ARC).

ARC is an ambitious endeavor by OU’s School of 工程与计算机科学 dedicated to teaching people how to work with groundbreaking digital immersive technologies. 有十几家公司合作伙伴支持, ARC’s mission is to foster an educational environment where students, faculty and industry professionals work together to create new applications for manufacturing and other fields.

Two principal forms of immersive technology are augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Both blend a person’s physical environment with the digital world and are experienced through wearable headsets and glasses or other devices such as smartphones and tablets.

“VR completely immerses you in a simulated environment and blocks out the ‘real’ world,哈立德·米尔扎说, Ph.D.他是ARC的创始董事. “然而，有了AR，你仍然可以看到
房间和你周围的一切. 但 it’s augmented with additional graphics and digitized information in the space. Both can be useful for employee training, product design, machine maintenance and more.”

A unique aspect behind ARC’s educational initiative is that it recognizes both the technical and creative skillsets needed to work in the area. The College for Creative Studies, an art and design school in Detroit, is a key collaborator in ARC. 在一起, the two schools are teaming up to empower engineering and art students to learn from one another. “An AR or VR application can be engineered and programmed very well, but it also has to be visually compelling and engage the user effectively,米尔扎说。. “That’s why the combination of engineering and design is so important.”

The highlight of the grand opening event was the public unveiling of the ARC Lab. 在这里, anyone is welcome to come and try out the latest gadgets and experience their potential and power. The lab is located on the second floor of OU’s Engineering Center and offers public visiting hours on selected weekdays.

“通过相互合作, we are not only helping create solutions for companies, we’re building their future workforce at the same time."

While immersive technologies are entrenched tools of the gaming and entertainment industries, their use in manufacturing is now rapidly expanding. Ed Volcic, vice president of Industry Management at 库卡机器人, explains one application. “Augmented reality is being used to help visualize technical components within the robotics environment that normally you have in your mind or on a laptop. 事实上, a demonstration of how digitized information can be superimposed over an actual robot is one of the experiences offered in the ARC Lab.Volcic补充道, “Being able to see [data] right in front of you in an automation cell brings a ton of value. 它真的能帮助你理解发生了什么.”

海科Wenczel, 虚幻引擎总监, human machine interface and automotive at 史诗般的游戏 says, “我们正处于一场革命之中, 实时革命, 与工具的交互在哪里, especially game engines in the industrial space, 正变得越来越普遍.”

Game engines are software platforms that enable developers to easily create their applications in interactive and extremely realistic 3D digital environments. “A lot of companies are recognizing that using these tools is going to be a competitive advantage over everyone else that’s not using them,温泽尔建议道.

但, knowing how to use these tools can be challenging for companies since the technology is so new and few employees currently have the skills to work with them. 米尔扎解释说:“这就是ARC的作用所在. “我们把公司聚集在一起, 工科学生, the design students and the faculty who are interested in this technology. 通过相互合作, we are not only helping create solutions for companies, we’re building their future workforce at the same time.”

Volcic echoes the value of these collaborative efforts, especially among ARC’s partner companies. “All of us work in our own unique industries but there’s a ton of overlap. 我们都在使用非常相似的技术. Bringing those different viewpoints together gives you the opportunity to come up with new ideas and things that you never would have imagined or thought of on your own."

For more information about the Augmented Reality Center and the lab’s public hours, please visit:
To learn about partnership opportunities and benefits of becoming an ARC corporate partner, 联系安东尼·加里纳 (电子邮件保护).