AR/WebXR for Public Engagement – Penn State – Behrend-B
INSTITUTION
Penn State – Behrend (PSB)
CLASS
Silver Class (2022 – 2023)
STUDENT TEAM
Cory Drangel, Software Engineering
Garrett L. Adams, Software Engineering
Noah Spott, Software Engineering
Matthew Theys, Software Engineering
ACADEMIC GUIDANCE
Dr. Naseem Ibrahim, Associate Professor & Chair, Computer Science and Software Engineering, Penn State – Behrend
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The mission to visit the asteroid Psyche by NASA is currently being led by Arizona State University. The spacecraft that is being developed for the mission is targeted to travel to the asteroid and eventually map the asteroid, study its properties, and perform several scientific operations.
Currently, there is a 3D-printed model of what scientists believe to be a close approximation of the asteroid. The plan is to have this model in museums and on display for the public to learn more about the asteroid and the mission itself.
The system is based on current technologies in AR/WebXR. This is a technology that is going to be utilized to have the visitors to the museum interact directly with it. AR/WebXR can be used in mobile browsers to have the user interact with an experience through the camera on their phone.
Most users tend to spend around 30 seconds at a display in a museum, so one objective of this project is to be engaging in a short amount of time. The users are most likely not going to be spending a lot of time on the web page before moving on to something different, so having something that is attractive and engaging, but not taking a long amount of time to use is important. Along with this, the educational material should not be presented in a manner that would seem to be boring or uninteresting to the museum visitors. The goal of this project is to have people engage with this, and people will not engage with the web page if all they see are blocks of text. So being interesting and engaging while still informing the users and presenting them with educational material is important.
The objective of this project is to develop an interactive page that is based on AR/WebXR. This page should be accessible to many different web browsers and should mainly be able to be used on mobile devices. Users would initially scan a QR code that is attached to the model and that would take them to this interactive web page. The page should also have educational information about the asteroid and/or the mission itself.
