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When science fiction author
William Gibson introduced
the world to the concept
of cyberspace in his novel
“Neuromancer” in 1984,
readers were intrigued by the
notion of human beings living
immersed in a computergenerated
reality. Today, more
than 20 years later, the notion
of cyberspace and virtual reality
are readily understood and
even embraced by society.
The Interactive Multimedia Lab at
the National University of Singapore
is taking this understanding to a
new level and stands poised to
change the way we live, work, learn
and play. By combining technology
and creative art, researchers at the
lab are developing new software
interfaces using “augmented“ or
mixed reality technology developed
at the university’s Mixed Reality Lab.
The technology is aimed at making
machines more natural, more intuitive
and easier to use. Mixed reality merges
the physical with the virtual worlds
to allow users to interact
with imaginary or fictional
three-dimensional objects
as if they were in the real,
physical world.
MXR Corp.:
A Collaboration of
Two Laboratories
Kenny Lew was the
NUS intellectual property
manager who evaluated
and patented the interactive computer
technology developed by professor
Steven Zhou, director of the Interactive
Multimedia Lab, and professor Adrian
Cheok, director of the Mixed Reality
Lab. After working with the Singapore
military to develop training programs
using interactive human computer
systems, the two researchers worked
together to spin out the Mixed
Reality Corp. to commercialize related
technologies.
In the beginning, this new
collaborative venture needed critically
important funding to get off the
ground. NUS Venture Support, which
promotes innovation
and entrepreneurship
within the National
University of Singapore
community, provided
a $40,000 grant that
matched $10,000
from Zhou. This grant
sustained MXR Corp.
through its first year
of existence. Thanks
to its partnership and
support, NUS Venture Support gives
fledgling startups like MXR Corp. a
strong foundation on which to thrive.
The company’s flagship commercial
product is wIzQubes, a virtual,
three-dimensional storytelling tool.
Zhou and Cheok worked together
to develop this brilliant educational
toy, which took top honors at the
prestigious International Idea2Product
Competition in 2004, held in
Austin, Texas.
Zhou says he got the idea for
wIzQubes on a whim. “I was thinking
of a natural and intuitive interface for
storytelling,” he says. “I happened to see the foldable story cube of ‘Noah’s
Ark,’ and thought that it would be a
great experience for kids if the story
could be played in three-dimensions
using mixed reality by physically
manipulating the cubes.”
It took three years of hard work and
$1,200,000 to develop the technology
on which wIzQubesTM is based, but it
eventually paid off.
A New Way of Learning
Frequently referred to as the “next
generation of children’s books,” the
colorful plastic cubes allow children
to actively participate in storytelling
and directly engage with fictional
characters. In early tests of the toy,
children said they enjoyed the magic
cubes more than a picture book.
The wIzQubes work with two small
cubes, each with images on them.
Each cube is made up of smaller plastic
cubes connected at various edges.
Cheok and Zhou worked together
to combine the cube structures with
virtual reality software and a digital
camera to superimpose computer
graphics on the real world, creating an
animated version of the story.
A Web camera in one of the cubes
captures the image on the cube
and software calls up an animated
story, which is stored on a CD. The
user watches the story unfold on a
computer screen that displays the
scenes. The technology allows the
users not just to view the story in an
all-around three-dimensional format,
but also to interact with the characters
and play an active part in the story by
simply manipulating the cubes.
The new medium opens up a new
avenue for education. Educational
researchers have long studied how
children learn, and found they do it
best by taking in visual and auditory
information that reinforce each other.
This unique combination of media
increases their understanding of new
concepts. Adding a third sense — the
sense of physicality — mixed reality
provides a new dimension to learning.
“Education has always been an
important topic in our everyday lives,”
says Zhou, who today serves as CEO
and director of the company. “The
tools of the trade have changed over
the times, but interaction has always
been necessary to provide children with
a better understanding of the topic.”
Zhou says it’s difficult for children
to get their minds around topics
for which hands-on material is not
available. He cites scientific topics
such as how dinosaurs once lived, and
sociological and historical topics like
the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.
The wIzQubes product can bridge
that gap by providing a physical
experience.
“With mixed reality, we bring
together the physical and virtual world
and allow the user to fully interact with the virtual contents in physical
surroundings,” he says. “This in turn
allows the user to absorb what is being
taught faster, because of the clarity and
detailed modeling in three-dimensional
graphics and the interaction element
thrown into the mix.”
Children, Zhou says, “learn by doing, using their hands, and feeling the entire
link with the imaginary world.”
Not only are the cubes a fun way
for kids to learn, it’s a boon to parents
and teachers, too, because it is proven
to increase the attention span of kids,
according to Zhou. “The wIzQubes
achieved a record of 3.5 hours of
continuous usage by an eight-year-old
girl during the product launch at IT
Show 2007,” he says. The product
also may develop children’s language
skills, and encourage innovative and
critical thinking, as well as sharpen
their psycho-motor skills, he adds.
The cubes differ in size; some are
as small as a deck of cards. Creating a
computer reality game in this portable
size was one of the key technological
challenges, according to Zhou.
“Mixed reality requires using a
camera to do the real-time tracking
of physical objects,” he says. “The
portable size means that fewer pixels
are being captured by the camera and
hence, there is less tracking accuracy.
In addition, portable-sized objects are
easily held by hands, which introduces
a lot of occlusions that make the
tracking harder.”
The product, which was licensed by
MXR Corporation in 2004, has been
available at stores in Singapore since
early 2007 and will soon be available
at retailers in the United States. The
cubes, which feature classic tales such
as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood,
and Jack and the Beanstalk, sell for
approximately $85 U.S.
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