eXtended Reality lab ( XR-Lab)
eXtended Reality Lab (XR-Lab) explores how people engage with simulated scenarios through Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality and promotes communication and collaboration through XR for education, health care, and professional training.
Extended Reality (XR) is an emerging umbrella term for all the immersive technologies virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR).
What: The XR lab brings designers, artists, engineers, scientists to develop XR experience to simulate DICE (dangerous, impossible, counterproductive, and expensive) scenarios.
Goal: Transform living and working space by inhabiting digital spaces; Develop metrics for human performance evaluation in XR
How: Through real-time visualization, animation, digital characters, and serious games.
Projects: The past projects include using XR for creating empathy and cognitive embodiment, architecture, engineering, and construction visualization, police training, Egress, driving simulation, healthcare and mental health training, digital twin, biometric data collection through eye-tracking, human behavior simulation, and large-scale reality capture.
Location: Digital Future Building, Cincinnati Innovation District.
Director
Ming Tang, Registered Architect, RA , NCARB, LEED AP (BD+C), Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Cincinnati.
Objective
The primary goals of the research group are to:
- Provide new tools to teach and research Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, involving a diverse group of UC faculty and students from various disciplines who promise to be the future problem solvers;
- Increase the knowledge base among the students and faculty and provide faculty with new perspectives on how to integrate data visualization into curriculum development for core courses;
- Promote the communication of data visualization and VR & AR research to the broader UC and aligned professional communities.
Funded Projects
After 2018, new funded projects are organized at http://ming3d.com/new/grant/
Previous funded projects
Assess the effectiveness of using Virtual Reality for caregiver training
Urban Health Pathway Seed Grant. PI: Ming Tang. Partner. Council of Ageing, LiveWell Collaborative. $19,844. 03. 2021-3.2022
This project aims to investigate the effectiveness of using Virtual Reality to build empathy for the care recipient by allowing the caregiver to experience day-to-day life from the care recipient’s perspective. Ming Tang leads a research team to work with COA and LiveWell Collaborative to develop and evaluate an expandable set of VR training modules designed to help train family and friends who are thrust into the caregiving role.
Digital Future: VR for Violence Reduction Training System for Active and Mass Shooting
Ming Tang was involved in the Digital Future awarded anchor tenant development program. He is in the awarded pilot team “Mass shooting”: Development of a Virtual Reality Augmented Violence Reduction Training System for Active and Mass Shooting incidents. Tang worked with four faculty and researchers from the UC Criminology and Justice program, and PA consulting to develop grant proposals in summer 2019.
ODOT Phase II grant
“Evaluate Opportunities to Provide Training Simulation for ODOT Snow and Ice Drivers”. Phase 2. Ohio Department of Transportation. PI: Jiaqi Ma. Co-PI: Ming Tang, Julian Wang. $952,938. Grant #: 1014440. ODOT 32391 / FHWA. 2019
Provost Group / Interdisciplinary Award
“Eye-tracking technology”. Provost Group / Interdisciplinary Award. $19,940. PI: Tang. Co-PI: Auffrey, Hildebrandt. UC.2018
ODOT Phase I grant
“Evaluate Opportunities to Provide Training Simulation for ODOT Snow and Ice Drivers”. Phase-1. Ohio Department of Transportation. PI: Jiaqi Ma. Co-PI: Ming Tang, Julian Wang. $39,249. ODOT 32391 / FHW. 2018
Boeing Research Project. 2017
collaborate with Live Well Collaborative, we developed the Virtual Assistant, Boeing Onboard, in the Spring of 2017. Boeing Onboard is a virtual assistant combined with a holographic interface which all passengers have access to onboard planes. Through augmented reality and wearable glasses, Boeing Onboard has the ability to provide passengers with valuable information, such as safety demonstrations, in-flight entertainment, and web browsing. Boeing Onboard is an in-flight concierge service connecting the passenger to all the resources and information the passenger needs for the ultimate travel experience. The project has been shortlisted for a 2018 Crystal Cabin Award and exhibited at Aircraft Interior Expo at the Hamburg Messe, Germany 04. 10-12. The project was also featured at UC magazine.
AHSS Grant. Magic Schoolbus for Computational Cell. UC. 2017
PI: Ming Tang. Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Interior Design, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
Co-PI: TongLi Zhang. TongLi Zhang. Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, College of Medicine.
Tiffany Grant. PhD. Research Informationist. Health Sciences Library. College of Medicine.
CUE Grant. Hybrid Reality: Using Augmented Reality and Holograms for Wayfinding and Signage Research. 2016
PI: Ming Tang. Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Interior Design, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
Co-PI: Xinhao Wang, PhD,professor of Planning in School of Planning (SOP), College of DAAP.
Co-PI: Christopher Auffrey, PhD, Associate Professor of Planning, School of Planning, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
Third Century Faculty Research Grant.UC. 2016
PI: Ming Tang. Associate Professor. School of Architecture and Interior Design, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
Co-PI. Mara Marcu. Assistant Professor. School of Architecture and Interior Design, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
FDC Department & Interdisciplinary Grant. An Interdisciplinary Approach to Using Immersive Data Visualization for Teaching and Research. FDC UC. 2015
PI: Ming Tang. Assistant Professor. School of Architecture and Interior Design, College of DAAP.
Co-PI: Xinhao Wang, PhD,professor of Planning in School of Planning (SOP), College of DAAP.
Co-PI: Christopher Auffrey, PhD, Associate Professor of Planning, School of Planning, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.
Co-PI: Mingming Lu, PhD, Associate Professor. Department of Biomedical, Chemical and Engineering (BCEE), College of Engineering & Applied Science.
Students
Ph.D Students: Niloufar Kioumarsi, Farshad Khalighinejad
Graduate students: Turan Akman, Michael Rogovin, Craig Moyer, Shinji Miyajima, Seth Davis, Sagar Desai
Undergraduate students: Ivan Klus, Laura Kennedy, Alex Bowman, Andrew Letourneau,