For most people, just the mention of Harvard University brings images of books and rigorous training. But the students of one of the most prestigious Ivy League schools have proven that they are still human after all. Humans who don't want to miss out on fun. Evidence of that was the recent event held at the Harvard Innovation Lab or i-lab during HUBweek where students got their fill of virtual reality.
For a moment, students were taken into another world without leaving the great halls of Harvard. Some students had a great time exploring the ocean floor and saw unique underwater animals, others tried their hand in hockey, while others screamed as they got into a racecar and sped on a virtual speedway. All of them, getting a taste of what virtual and augmented reality looks like.
All of these, of course, were not just about fun but on how especially augmented and virtual reality can transform every kind of industry. This will be discussed and demonstrated at the i-lab in the coming weeks with Rony Abovitz, CEO of Magic Leap Inc., as the keynote speaker.
Abovitz was responsible for developing the "Mixed Reality Lightfield," a technology that combines augmented and virtual reality. According to Abovitz, it will help those who are struggling to "transfer two-dimensional information or text into "spatial learning."
"I think it will make life easier for a lot of people and open doors for a lot of people because we are making technology fit how our brains evolved into the physics of the universe rather than forcing our brains to adapt to a more limited technology," he added.
Aside from Abovitz, Javender Jagadeesan and Chris Dede also gave their presentation on the use of virtual reality in different fields. Jagadeesan, an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School, talked about using augmented reality to determine the exact location of a tumor. Dede, who is from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, discussed the impact of augmented and virtual reality-based tools in teaching young learners,
