Mixed Reality Multi-User exploration of the solar system
| Name | Github Handle |
|---|---|
| Anish Parikh | anish2591 |
| Claire Samuels | clairemation |
| Shan Liu | oranliu |
| Nishant Mehta | nishantmehta |
| Kate Borst | kborst83 |
| Lenn Hypolite | lennhy |
| Anthonia Carter | anthoniaocc |
| Stephanie Tsuei | stsuei88 |
Our project is an immersive learning experience where one to as many people can visualize the grand scale of our solar system and zoom into the planetary level to learn about properties such as atmosphere, mass, core, and distance for each planet.
To achieve this we leveraged the solar system model in unity which was provided to us. We built on top of this and created a higher resolution model for each planet with more details about it like its atmosphere, core etc. We then connected the unity models to a backend express server which renders facts and questions about each planet in a JSON format. The server here can take in a simple csv file as an input or connect to a database/engine which can provide it with the facts and questions.
The users would see the facts and questions on the device which they are using to interact with the models. They would be able to answer the questions with the help of the facts provided and the answers would be validated by the server.
- For future work, we can implement a system which can keep score for each user and at the end of the session provide details and statistics about each user who was part of that session
- The server component is modular enough to easily take in any other dataset like marine life, geographical data etc.
We designed this aspect to be recyclable. One need only generate a CSV file of data similar to the data.csv file, and change the variables columns and attributes within the load_data.py file, as well as the bases for the questions if they are not applicable in the different context. For example, instead of planets, one could include facts about dinosaurs. Where Earth, Mercury, Venus, etc are now one could include different species of dinosaur and have attributes such as 'height' 'diet' and 'era' instead of mass, atmosphere, etc.
This script takes as input a table of data listing attributes about the items (planets, dinosaurs, fish) you want the user to learn about, and generates a list of questions based on that data. It may need a little work to translate it to another context, but hopefully the hard stuff is done and fully recylcable! Then, it could be implemented in a nearly identical AR manner with some Unity dinosaur exploration (instead of zooming in on a planet to learn about it, you would zoom in on a dinosaur).
It is our hope that this multi-user data exploration game could be used across multiple disciplines at the museum. :)
- Express Node.js server
- Unity
You must also provide any step-by-step instructions for installation of your solution.
Step one - install package manager Step two - special config instructions Step three - system administration notes Step four - command line how-to, listing descriptions of all optional arguments