Development of an Interactive Virtual Biology Lab in Unity Game Engine

Description

In this course, the student learns how to develop a virtual laboratory from the ground up. In a scene populated with the lab objects and instruments, they create a user character which interacts in various ways with them through the mouse. They also learn how to implement a Virtual Reality (VR) User Interface (UI) for the virtual lab in place of the keyboard-mouse UI as well as a Standard Development Kit (SDK) as a tool for the development of the virtual lab.

Information about the Authors:

George Anastassakis is a researcher in the field of virtual reality and multi-user virtual worlds with a focus on design, development and applications in areas such as novel technologies in education and digital cultural heritage. He is an associate researcher with the Interactive Systems Design Laboratory at the Dept. of Product and Systems Design Engineering, Aegean University, the Educational Content, Methodology and Technology Laboratory, Hellenic Open University, the Spatial Media Research Group, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, a lecturer in Games Programming in SAE Institute, Athens, and a post-doctoral researcher on “Virtual Worlds and Education” in the Dept. of Preschool Education and Educational Design, Aegean University. He also works as a freelance professional in consultancy, design and development in the area of creative digital technologies.

Vasilis Zafeiropoulos works as a research associate in Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction at Athena Research Center (ARC) and an adjunct lecturer in Data Science and Machine Learning (DAMA) postgraduate and Computer Science (PLI) undergraduate programs at Hellenic Open University (HOU). He is the creator of HOU’s virtual biology lab, Onlabs (http://onlabs.eap.gr/).