The Virtuality Continuum:

An Intro to Applied AR and VR

by Futurehub
PRESENTATION BY DAVID BYCHKOV, PHD
Table of Contents

u Who am I? What is Reality to Me?

u Generational Psychology and VR: From Labs to Smartphones
u Moving Beyond DOS: The Code Barrier is Broken
u Lessons from Public Health: Behavioral Trends on YouTubeVR
u Persuasive Technology: Health Behavior Change with AR and VR
u Course Goals and Outcomes
Attendance, Examination, and Grading

ü Mandatory Attendance
• Classroom Participation: 20%
• Project/Research: 40%
• Quiz: 10%
• Final Exam: 30%
ü All Sessions Will be Recorded (For Your Review
After the Class)
ü The Scope of the Quiz & Final Examination:
Lecture Contents
 Hello, my name is David. When I was
your age I had one screen.

u When I was a boy in the 1980s and

1990s, there was one screen available
in my home. When it was turned on,
we watched it. We did not do other
things.
u My sister, parents and I shared it to
watch television, pre-recorded
movies and to play low resolution, two
dimensional video games.
u In my final year before high school, I
built a 386 processor computer, and
then upgraded the motherboard to a
486.
u My computer had the second screen
in the family home until the year 1996
when my parents purchased their
own laptop.
 Gen X Mentality: “just quietly do our thing”

u I went to the University of Chicago and later the European

Graduate School to study first cinema and then later media
and communications. My main focus was on medical
filmmaking and holograms.
u I always believed as a college student that 3-D images and
holograms would revolutionize the future – because our
senses yearn for more.
u Why do our senses yearn for more? The quantum mechanics
used to produce holograms are similar to the processes the
brain uses to store and access memories.
u Eventually, doctors and public health researchers found out
that the photos, videos and media that patients share with
each other have an intense impact on their medical
outcomes.
u I could use my skills and technologies to help patients. That is
what my research is about, and what I’ve done with my
students for the last 10+ years.
What is Virtual Reality?

u Virtual reality is the term used to

describe a 3-D, computer generated
environment which can be explored
and interacted with by a person.
u In VR, the the user becomes part of this
virtual world or is immersed within this
environment and is able to manipulate
objects or perform a series of actions.
 How is VR Practical? Isn’t It Just for Games?

u Virtual reality (VR) has been successfully used to reduce

nicotine addiction, maintain abstinence and motivate
participants to stay in clinical trials.
u VR has been successfully used for psychotherapy, training(1).
u VR has been used successfully for rehabilitation (2-3).

u 1. Girard B, Turcotte V, Bouchard S, Girard B. Crushing Virtual Cigarettes Reduces Tobacco Addiction and
Treatment Discontinuation. Cyberpsychol Behav. 2009 Oct 1;12(5):477–83.

u 2. Messer K, Trinidad DR, Al-Delaimy WK, Pierce JP. Smoking Cessation Rates in the United States: A Comparison of
Young Adult and Older Smokers. Am J Public Health. 2008 Feb;98(2):317–22.

u 3. García-Rodríguez O, Ferrer-García M, Pericot-Valverde I, Gutiérrez-Maldonado J, Secades-Villa R, Carballo JL.

Identifying Specific Cues and Contexts Related to Smoking Craving for the Development of Effective Virtual Environments.
Cyberpsychology Behav Soc Netw. 2010 Jun 24;14(3):91–7.
My Earliest Usage of VR: Clumsy!
u This is what VR looked like in the
laboratory at UI-Milan in 2003.
u The first step involved applying
electrodes to study participants.
u The next step involved getting
baseline readings.
u At some point we built
electrodes into the VR headsets,
but that generated noise.
 Laboratory Results

u After spending 2-3 hours setting up, we

could collect 10-15 minutes of VR data on a
single participant.
u Our system gathered simultaneous
timecodes and vital signs for review later.
u The target was emotional response analysis.
u VR was an extremely useful tool for
evaluating participant emotional responses
in simulated environments, such as a
crowded concert hall.
u This is supported by hundreds of other peer-
reviewed studies.
 Moving VR from Lab to Smartphone

u In the past, VR previously required users to

come to a clinic, lab or hospital for
supervised usage.
u Content development had been limited to
specialized applications, such as medical
and military simulation.
u Head mounted displays (HMD) were
clumsy and expensive.
u The most downloaded VR-enabled apps
are Fulldive (a navigation platform),
YouTube VR and Titans of Space (a game).
 The Low-Code Revolution: No Hurdles to VR

u Three years ago, only programmers with

knowledge of Java, Unity, PHP, Swift and
other languages could build 3-D graphics
and VR apps.
u There are now platforms that enable non-
programmers to use “drag and drop”
blocks.
u Low code platforms like InstaVR, Worldviz,
and Eevo.
u Fulldive, Daydream, Cardboard enable
easy stitching and viewing of 360 degree
videos with standard smartphones.
Yay! Everyone is On Hanging Out on
YouTube VR – Oh Wait….Uh Oh…..

u 2016 was the first year that the VR industry earned

over USD 1 Billion in profits.
u Most of the contest produced in VR format was
streamed over free channels, like YouTube and porn
websites.
u Because VR has the potential to cause motion
sickness, there is a scientific need to understand how
the products are used.
u So far, no manufacturers have collected any real
data. I did some research with UCLA Medical School
on YouTube VR users.
 Virtual Reality and the Next Frontier for HIV Surveillance
David Bychkov, PhD, Sean D. Young, PhD, MS

The New School, School of Media Studies, Graduate Media Management Program, New York, NY
Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Sex and drug-related VR content are beginning to grow in popularity, posing a need for HIV researchers to monitor this
area to study how it might impact HIV research. To gain an initial estimate of the prevalence of VR content, between
February 28th and March 1, 2017, we compiled a list of sex and drug themed VR videos available on YouTube and
Pornhub using the search terms “sex” and “drugs.” The search uncovered 367 VR titles, with these videos garnering a
total of more than 13 million views (Table 1).
Lesson: VR is Where People Like Trying
New Things and Taking Risks

u Public health researchers love discoveries like this! It gives them the
opportunity to reach new audiences.
u In the 1980s and 1990s, there were a series of TV commercials against
drugs that were aired on MTV and during programs that teenagers
watched. By communicating to your audience with messages that they
like, they will listen and open up.
u In the case of VR, I have developed a series of apps with my graduate
students at the New School to address nicotine addiction.
u For undergraduate students at the Beijing Institute of Technology, we are
focusing this semester on weight loss and healthy eating interventions for
obesity.
 VR App Example 1 – Maintenance of
Abstinence

u Evidence has found that simulating temptations,

such as being in a bar or café, finishing a meal or
standing in a street, can provoke urges in ex-
smokers.
u For the purpose of training smokers to manage their
responses to such situations, we propose to build a
VR app full of enticing settings and situations to
smoke, where the user earns points by watching a
variety of increasingly enticing videos they can
trigger by spending time on them.
u Effectively, this is app involves doing the opposite of
App 1.
 Proposed VR App 2 – Motivation to
Keep Trying
u In VR App 2, we propose to immerse the user in an
x-rayed and endoscopic tour of a cancerous
body.
u As their eyes fix on different tumors, lesions and
polyps, they will receive information on why the
tumor was formed, how this body is struggling to
function around it, and how smoking would make
an immediate difference.
u Using our InstaVR.com platform, physicians could
easily upload their patients’ X-Rays and
endoscopic images, along with narrated audio, to
produce customized versions as needed.
u Our target is to produce a generic proof of
principle for use in a pilot.
 Augmented Reality: Closer to Holograms

u AR is an overlay of digital information onto a

user’s perceived environment.
u AR is typically enabled by a computer that
includes a GPS or other geo-locating system,
an optical device that recognizes a pre-
programmed marker (such as a QR code, a
face, an object, etc), and a display (a
projector, specialty lenses, etc).
u Users are able to interact with the digital
information overlay by voice command,
pressing a button or eye control.
 Why Do I Need to Study AR? Isn’t
Google Glass Dead?
u AR glasses enable civil, mechanical and clinical
engineers to visualize information that guides their
actions.
u Transition from VR immersive training to real-world
supervision. For example, a head surgeon
observes a new resident closing a wound. AR
glasses can not only project data but record
events.
u Even if the “Google Glass” format dies, engineers
and technicians in all higher risk industries will soon
be expected to function as if they are being
recorded and cross-checked in real-time.
 How Do We Learn About AR?

u Regular people experience AR not with

Google Glass but with their smartphone.
u A typical example is Pokemon Go.
u Pokemon Go uses geolocation to
encourage people to get out of their chair
and capture virtual characters that appear
to be in the user’s real world.
u The app has been successfully used to
motivate hospital patients in the United
States to get out of their beds and chairs.
u Increased movement is important to
prevention of clots and infections during the
healing the process.
u In my classes, we learn about the behavior
of AR users. My grad students build AR apps
to help brands. My undergrads build AR
apps to help with depression research.
I Use Both No and Low Code Options

u QQ Offers a Simple Drag and Drop AR Solution

u EasyAR offers a platform that requires some
programming, but advanced features for
students who are more comfortable with SDK
documentation.
u Both platforms come with full documentation in
Chinese.
u Over the course of a semester, each student will
develop at least two AR videos that are
triggered by recognition of a marker. One will
be done individually and the other as part of a
group project.
u For example, a healthy reminder that could be
triggered when looking at a candy bar.
End of the Course Portfolio

u By the end of the course, each student will leave my course with at least 4
smartphone that they can show (2 VR and 2 AR).
u Two apps will be made by them alone: a VR app and an AR app related
to weight loss or healthy nutrition choices.
u Two apps will be made by them as part of a larger group: a VR app and
an AR app that include multiple scenes, hotspots, 360 video and data
collection from users.
u Whereas the individual apps will be worked on in the background by each
student throughout the semester, with updates to the TA, the groups will
be providing weekly PowerPoint updates on their progress and feedback
from end users.