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Development of Cost-Effective Virtual Reality Tools for Engineering Education

Development of Cost-Effective Virtual Reality Tools for Engineering Education. A. Tragler, L. Srinivasan, M. McLauren and D.W. Brenner Department of Materials Science and Engineering North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC Sponsors: National Science Foundation (DUE and DMR) Intel

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Development of Cost-Effective Virtual Reality Tools for Engineering Education

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  1. Development of Cost-Effective Virtual Reality Tools for Engineering Education A. Tragler, L. Srinivasan, M. McLauren and D.W. Brenner Department of Materials Science and Engineering North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC Sponsors: • National Science Foundation (DUE and DMR) • Intel • Microsoft • Sensable Technologies (Development Partner)

  2. Motivation • Limited retention of concepts from introductory materials engineering lectures. • Lack of hands-on experience with concepts such as bond strengths makes course material too abstract for some students. • Strongly tactile learners handicapped by lecture format and course content. • Significant population of engineering students alienated from materials science curriculum.

  3. Program Goals • Enhance retention of fundamental principles of materials science and engineering • Enable visual/tactile active learning of `abstract’ concepts: • bond strengths, • diffusion barriers, • stress-strain curves • Add physical intuition to engineering skill set • Motivate `hands-on’ engineering students to consider materials engineering.

  4. UNC-Chapel Hill Virtual Reality Workbench R. Superfine, S. Washburn, Physics; R. Taylor, F. Brookes, Computer Science Research Application: Visual and tactile force- feedback user interface controls atomic-force microscope tip position. Current design: ~$100,000

  5. Traditional Virtual Reality Technology • Used primarily for high-tech training, entertainment, etc. • Attempt to mimic interaction with a real immersive environment • Incorporating tactile stimulation with immersive visual displays has been expensive - $100,000+ • Limited access to undergraduate students for education

  6. Virtual Reality Technology and Education: Our Vision Replace • immersive visual environment with single monitor and PC-based graphics • `realistic’ environments with idealized representations (e.g. ball-and-stick molecules) • advanced tactile technologies with new hand-held devices - key technology advance • one $100,000+ device with many low-cost devices.

  7. Why a Materials Science Department? • Cutting edge research in computer science is often defined by cost of technology; cost efficiency is not usually of primary concern • Better connection with educational requirements of materials science and engineering • Close feedback from end users Drawbacks: • Finding students with necessary computational skills and interests • Appropriate topic for thesis research?

  8. The Phantom Haptic SensAble Technologies (MIT student spin-off) http://www.sensable.com Premium 1.0 (~$15,000) Desktop ($9,950)

  9. Current Educational Design • Students manipulate virtual objects • Current design: ~$25,000 ($15,000) • Projected cost (5-10 years): ~$1,000-$3,000

  10. Educational Modules • Diatomic Bond Strengths • force and energy curves • covalent, metallic, ionic, van der Waals bonding • Stress-Strain Relations • linear and nonlinear elastic behavior • yield, tensile strengths and plastic behavior • work hardening, dislocation motion • Atomic Diffusion • relative barriers for bulk, defect and surface diffusion • Electron Densities • Polymer Bonding and Properties

  11. Diatomic Bonding and Interatomic Forces User Interface: • control atom motion with haptic • simultaneously feel force and view energy and force graphically • Sphere rendering and forces calculated in real time

  12. Diatomic Bonding and Interatomic Forces User interface - dialog box with system choice • Choose systems representative of bonding types • Interface resets graphs, feedback forces, and sphere radii.

  13. Diatomic Bonding and Interatomic Forces Dialog box with leading questions. • enhances active learning • better retention of information • stimulates interaction with computer model

  14. Stress-Strain Behavior User Interface • Control strain of sample with haptic • simultaneously feel stress, view stress-strain curve, sample necking • dialog boxes with different types of behavior, leading questions To be added: • permanent deformation • strain hardening • dislocation motion

  15. Conclusions Virtual reality technology: • is fast becoming accessible to undergraduate education • makes ‘abstract’ concepts understandable • can motivate ‘hands-on’ tactile learners • facilitates active learning • leads to better knowledge retention (?) • adds intuition to engineering skill set Thanks again to National Science Foundation, Intel, Microsoft

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