TY - GEN
T1 - A smart method for developing game-based virtual laboratories
AU - Zhang, Zhou
AU - Zhang, Mingshao
AU - Chang, Yizhe
AU - Esche, Sven K.
AU - Chassapis, Constantin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 by ASME.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Virtual laboratories are one popular form of implementation of virtual reality. They are now widely used at various levels of education. Game-based virtual laboratories created using game engines take advantage of the resources of these game engines. While providing convenience to developers of virtual laboratories, game engines also exhibit the following shortcomings: (1) They are not realistic enough. (2) They require long design and modification periods. (3) They lack customizability and flexibility. (4) They are endowed with limited artificial intelligence. These shortcomings render gamebased virtual laboratories (and other virtual laboratories) inferior to traditional laboratories. This paper proposes a smart method for developing gamebased virtual laboratories that overcomes these shortcomings. In this method, 3D reconstruction and pattern recognition techniques are adopted. 3D reconstruction techniques are used to create a virtual environment, which includes virtual models of real objects and a virtual space. These techniques can render this virtual environment fairly realistic, can reduce the time and effort of creating the virtual environment and can increase the flexibility in the creation of the virtual environment. Furthermore, pattern recognition techniques are used to endow game-based virtual laboratories with general artificial intelligence. The scanned objects can be recognized, and certain attributes of real objects can be added automatically to their virtual models. In addition, the emphasis of the experiments can be adjusted according to the users' abilities in order to get better training results. As a prototype, an undergraduate student laboratory was developed and implemented. Finally, additional improvements in the approach for creating game-based virtual laboratories are discussed.
AB - Virtual laboratories are one popular form of implementation of virtual reality. They are now widely used at various levels of education. Game-based virtual laboratories created using game engines take advantage of the resources of these game engines. While providing convenience to developers of virtual laboratories, game engines also exhibit the following shortcomings: (1) They are not realistic enough. (2) They require long design and modification periods. (3) They lack customizability and flexibility. (4) They are endowed with limited artificial intelligence. These shortcomings render gamebased virtual laboratories (and other virtual laboratories) inferior to traditional laboratories. This paper proposes a smart method for developing gamebased virtual laboratories that overcomes these shortcomings. In this method, 3D reconstruction and pattern recognition techniques are adopted. 3D reconstruction techniques are used to create a virtual environment, which includes virtual models of real objects and a virtual space. These techniques can render this virtual environment fairly realistic, can reduce the time and effort of creating the virtual environment and can increase the flexibility in the creation of the virtual environment. Furthermore, pattern recognition techniques are used to endow game-based virtual laboratories with general artificial intelligence. The scanned objects can be recognized, and certain attributes of real objects can be added automatically to their virtual models. In addition, the emphasis of the experiments can be adjusted according to the users' abilities in order to get better training results. As a prototype, an undergraduate student laboratory was developed and implemented. Finally, additional improvements in the approach for creating game-based virtual laboratories are discussed.
KW - Artificial intelligence
KW - Game-based virtual laboratories
KW - Garry's Mod
KW - Kinect
KW - Virtual laboratories
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84981524186&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/IMECE2015-51501
DO - 10.1115/IMECE2015-51501
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84981524186
T3 - ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE)
BT - Education and Globalization
T2 - ASME 2015 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2015
Y2 - 13 November 2015 through 19 November 2015
ER -