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‘Crystal Ball’ VR System Supports Collaborative Tasks

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Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Saskatchewan have developed a ball-shaped VR display that supports up to two users at a time, using advanced calibration and graphics rendering techniques that produce a complete, distortion-free 3D image even when viewed from multiple angles.

Virtual reality spherical display, University of British Columbia.
Virtual reality spherical display. Courtesy of Clare Kiernan, UBC.

The system, which the researchers are calling Crystal, includes a 24-inch hollow ball-shaped display. The display surface was custom-made, while four high-speed projectors and one camera used for creating the images, calibration, and touch sensing were purchased off the shelf.

The researchers are working on a four-person system and see many potential uses for their display in the future, including multiplayer virtual reality games, virtual surgery, and VR-aided learning. However, they are focusing on teleconferencing applications and computer-aided design for now.

“Imagine a remote user joining a meeting of local users. At either location you can have a Crystal globe, which is great for seeing people’s heads and faces in 3D,” said professor Ian Stavness. “Or you can have a team of industrial designers in a room, perfecting a design with the help of VR and motion-tracking technology.”

Most “fish tank virtual reality” (FTVR) systems have been isolated to a single-person experience, making them unsuitable for collaborative tasks.

The research was published in VRST 2018 proceedings of the 24th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, Tokyo, Nov. 28–Dec. 1, 2018 (https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3281540). 

University of British Columbia professor Sid Fels explains how a globe VR display supports two or more players. Courtesy of Clare Kiernan, UBC.

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Published: February 2019
Glossary
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional environment or experience that can be interacted with and explored by an individual using electronic devices, such as a headset with a display. VR aims to create a sense of presence, immersing users in a computer-generated world that can be entirely fictional or a replication of the real world. It often involves the use of specialized hardware and software to provide a fully immersive and interactive experience. ...
augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that integrates digital information, typically in the form of computer-generated graphics, images, or data, with the real-world environment in real-time. AR enhances the user's perception of the physical world by overlaying or combining digital content onto the user's view of the real world, often through devices like smartphones, tablets, smart glasses, or specialized AR headsets. Key features and principles of augmented reality: Real-time...
Research & TechnologyeducationUniversity of British ColumbiaAmericasImagingvirtual realityVRaugmented realityARDisplaysdisplay technologyConsumerCommunicationsteleconferencingcomputer-aided designUniversity of SaskatchewanBioScan

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