Educational Technology and Methodology -- Technology Division
[x] Program Year Three

Undergraduate In-class Participation in Advanced Engineering Research

Project Final Report, December 22,1995
Anthony Webster, Director of Building Technologies


This report details the work done for the Undergraduate In-class Participation (UIP) Gateway EEC grant. The UIP project was evaluated under a separate contract by Columbia's Institute for Learning Technologies (ILT). ILT's draft report (submitted separately) indicates that the project was a pedagogical success, that its main features are extensible to other educational domains, and suggests how such extensions can be implemented by other Gateway schools.

As described in the Schedule/Deliverable section of the EFA proposal, the following items were sited for completion by 9/95 or sooner:

1. Computer code and equipment design
- Installation Design (tracking equipment and spaceframe supports)

2. Spaceframe delivery

3. Computer hardware construction
- Completion of full­scale, augmented reality testbed

4. Animated and augmented computer model design

5. Project report (Paperbound and WWW) and project video

6. The following items are not under the scope of this project but are promised by the dates indicated as part of the terms and conditions of this grant:
a. Teaching an interdisciplinary experimental research class and collecting evaluation data (12/95)
b. Computer programming (12/95)
c. Evaluation reports and dissemination (1/96)
d. Use the testbed to complete a working prototype of an augmented reality system (5/96).

Deliverables Status

All items covered under the scope of this grant (1 -- 5) have been completed. Items 6a through 6d are on schedule to be delivered as promised. Following is an item by item status report:

Tasks 1 -- 3:

We have created an augmented reality testbed in the Carleton Laboratory at Columbia University. The testbed includes: a full size, commercial grade spaceframe (the spaceframe was donated by Starnet International Corporation); a pentium computer with accelerated 3-D graphics; an ultrasonic position tracker; and a magnetic orientation tracker. A video documenting the testbed will be completed by March 1996, and the entire testbed will be available for demos at conferences by June 1996. Project students enrolled in the interdisciplinary research course taught at Columbia this fall (see task 6 below) are available to demonstrate the system.

Task 4:

We have completed the design of both models. Representations of each are available on the WWW at: http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~archpub/BT/RESEARCH/SPACE­FR/class.html and in the project report (see below).

Task 5:

We have completed a project report. A Paperbound copy is attached to this report. An electronic version is available on the WWW at:

http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~archpub/BT/RESEARCH/SPACE­FR/class.html

Tasks 6a -- 6d

We are teaching a class this (fall) semester including undergraduate mechanical engineering, computer science and architecture majors. The students have programmed the drivers and interfaces for the augmented reality system, and we expect to have the testbed operable by the end of the semester. Some student work completed to date is attached to this report. The Institute for Learning Technologies is evaluating the class, and its report will be completed before April 1996.