3D Interaction and Agents (3DIA) Research Lab

Amy Banic, Ph.D., Director of 3DIA Lab

Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming

Joint Appointment, Idaho National Lab

~Handy Links~

Amy Banic: http://www.AmyBanic.com

3DIA Lab Main Site: http://www.cs.uwyo.edu/~tdia/

InoVRtors Student VR Club: http://www.uwyo.edu/innovrtors/

Our research spans 3-dimensional (3-D) user interfaces and interaction in the application domains that utilize 3-D virtual environments (VE), immersive 3-D visualizations, and virtual humans experienced through stereoscopic display technology. Interaction in three dimensions is crucial to the successful usage of highly interactive VE applications like virtual reality, immersive training/education, scientific visualization, health, and immersive design. Our research investigates basic and applied research on interaction in 3-D and VE technology. We design and develop interaction techniques, interfaces, input devices that enhance workflow in a variety of domains. 3-Dimensional Interaction and Agents (3DiA) Laboratory. Our research is human-centric, meaning we study problems from the users' perspective. Our focus is to design and develop novel technology to help people and solve real-world problems. Our research is highly collaborative. Faculty, Government Researchers, Industry Leaders, Students and others who join or work with our lab come from a variety of domains such as Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kinesiology, Psychology, Health Sciences, Art, and others. Computing is at the heart. Students persuing a Ph.D., Masters, or Undergraduate degree working in this research group typically are enrolled in computer science or computer engineering studies.

Collaborative Interaction

Khadka, R., Shetty, N., Whiting, E., and Banic, A. (2016) Evaluation of Collaborative Actions to Inform Design of a Remote Interactive Collaboration Framework for Immersive Data Visualizations. In Proceedings of International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC), accepted, available soon.

Khadka, R., Money, J., and Banic, A. (2016) Using Low Cost Multi-Sensory Output Cues to Support Proxemics and Kinesics Across Heterogeneous Systems. In Proceedings of ISS Cross-Surface Workshop, accepted, available soon.

Khadka, R. and Banic, A. (2016). Investigation of Multi-Sensory Cue Techniques to Support Proxemics, Kinesics and Context for Remote Heterogeneous Collaborative Virtual Environments, In proceedings of the Doctoral Consortium of the IEEE Virtual Reality conference, Greenville, SC.

Benavides, A. and Banic, A. (2016) Poster: Tele-Collaboration in Remote Immersive 3D Virtual Environments and Visualizations. Rocky Mountain Celebration of Women in Computing, Salt Lake City, UT

Touch Perception

Wilches, D. and Banic, A. (2016). Extended Abstract: Making Virtual Environments more Immersive by using Mechanical Haptic Devices, In proceedings of the Doctoral Consortium of the IEEE Virtual Reality conference, Greenville, SC.

Hybrid 2D/3D Space Research to

Assist Individuals with Disabilities

 Coming soon...

NSF SBIR Phase 1, “Adapting Devices for Motion Disabled Users”. $149,864.
NSF SBIR Phase 0, “Adapting Touchscreen Devices for Motion Disabled Users”. $5000.

Perception of Action

Phung, T.* and Banic, A. (2016). Poster: Investigation on the Use of Perception Manipulation to Enhance Virtual Reality Training. Rocky Mountain Celebration of Women in Computing, Salt Lake City, UT. Won 3^rd Place in Poster Contest.

Mixing VR and ART

STEM HS ED

Banic, A. and Gamboa, R. (2016). Code as Spatial Brushes: Visual Arts Pedagogy-Driven Computer Science Education Through Online Virtual Environments. Frontiers Journal in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Virtual Environments, in review.

3D Touch

Nguyen, A. and Banic, A. (2015) 3DTouch: A wearable 3D input device for 3D applications Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality 2015, Arles, France. (Acceptance Rate: 23.1%)

Nguyen, A., & Banic, A. (2014). 3DTouch: A wearable 3D input device for 3D applications. Technical Report, Research Gate.

3D Touch, A Multi-Dimension Touch-Based Input Device, Patent Pending

Bimanual Interaction

Benavides, A., Wilches, D., and Banic, B. (2016). Talk: Research on Studying Bimanual Actions to Inform Interaction Techniques. Rocky Mountain Celebration of Women in Computing, Salt Lake City, UT.

Pradhan, N., Benavides, A., Zhu, Q., and Banic, A. (2015) Evaluation of Fatigue Measurement Using Human Motor Coordination for Gesture-Based Interaction in 3D Environments. In Proceedings of International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC).

Banic, A. (2014) Selection Classification for Interaction with Immersive Volumetric Visualizations. In proceedings of HCI International 2014, Crete, Greece.

Ulinski, A., Wartell, Z., Goolkasian, P., Suma, E., and Hodges, L. F. (2009). Selection Performance Based on Classes of Bimanual Actions. In Proceedings of 3DUI 2009, Lafayette, LA. (Acceptance rate: 25%)

Ulinski, A., Zanbaka, C., Wartell, Z., Goolkasian, P., and Hodges, L. F. (2007) Two-handed selection techniques for 3D volumetric data. In Proceedings of 3DUI 2007, Charlotte, NC, 107-114. (Acceptance rate: 31.1%)

Ulinski, A., Wartell, Z., and Hodges, L. F. (2007). Bimanual task division preferences for volume selection. In Proceedings of the 2007 ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (Newport Beach, California, November 05 - 07, 2007). S. N. Spencer, Ed. VRST '07. ACM, New York, NY, 217-218.

BCI Navigation for Virtual Environments

Benavides, A., Kunchala, A., and Banic, A. (2014). Auditory-Based BCI Navigation Techniques to Reduce Continued EEG Training for Virtual Reality, Poster, RMCWiC 2014.

Dhital, A., and Banic, A. U. (2013). Navigation Path Differences for Dichotic Listening BCI in Virtual Environments. In workshop on Virtual and Augmented Assistive Technology at IEEE Virtual Reality 2013, IEEE Proceedings.

Dhital, A., and Banic, A. U. (2013). Navigation in a Virtual Environment by Dichotic Listening: Simultaneous Audio Cues for User-Directed BCI Classification. In Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality (VR), 2013 IEEE (pp. 71-72).

Dhital, A. and Banic, A. (2012) Interact with Your Ears: Exploration of Audio and Visual Associative  Cues for Brain Computer Interface Classification, Poster, RMCWIC, 2012.

Areejitkasem, N. and Banic, A.. (2012)Evaluation of Color and SSVEP-Based BCI Classification, Poster, RMCWIC, 2012.

Interaction for Immersive Visualizations and Volumetric Data

Wilches, D. and Banic, A. (2016). VolSelectAware: Visual-Cognition Coupled Non-Visual Data-Driven Volume Selection for Immersive Scientific Visualizations. The 9^th Symposium on Visual Information Communication and Interaction, VINCI, 2016.

Sakou, L., Wilches, D., and Banic, A. (2015) Region Growing Selection Technique for Dense Volume Visualization. In Proceedings of International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC).

Banic, A. (2014). User-Centric Adaptation in Interaction for Immersive Simulations. In proceedings of the New Frontiers in Product Modeling and Simulation (NAFEMS) Regional Conference 2014, Colorado Springs, CO.

Banic, A. Featured in, O’Leary, P., Sherman, W. R., Shetty, N., Clark, J., & Hulme, D. (2013) Providing a Progression of Immersive Visualization Technologies. Workshop at Super Computing ‘13.

2nd Workshop on Immersive Volumetric Interaction (WIVI 2014). Amy Banic, Patrick O’Leary, and Bireswar Laha. (2014). At the IEEE Virtual Reality (VR 2014) conference, Minneapolis, MN, 29-30 March, 2014.

 Tutorial on HCI Design for Immersive Systems and 3D Environments. Amy Banic and Bill Sherman. (2014). At the HCI International 2014 Conference, Crete, Greece, 22-27 June 2014.

1st Workshop on Mobile Immersive Visualization. Amy Banic, Patrick O’Leary, and Tobias Isenburg. At the ACM MobileHCI 2013 Conference, Munich, Germany, August 27-30, 2013.

Tutorial on Mobile Interfaces for 3D and Immersive Systems: There’s a Mobile App for That! Amy Banic and Bill Sherman. At the ACM MobileHCI 2013 Conference, Munich, Germany, August 27-30, 2013.

Tutorial on HCI for 3D and Immersive Systems. Amy Banic and Bill Sherman. At the HCI International 2013 Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, 21-26 July 2013.

1st Workshop on Immersive Volumetric Interaction (WIVI 2013).. Amy Banic, Patrick O’Leary, and Zachary Wartell. At the IEEE Virtual Reality (VR 2013) conference, Orlando, FL. 16-23 March, 2013.

Touch and Multi-Touch

Sun, Z., Dhital, A., Areejitkasem, N., Pradhan*, N., Banic, A. (2014). Effects on Performance of Analytical Tools for Visually Demanding Tasks through Direct and Indirect Touch Interaction in an Immersive Display. In proc. of 4th International Conference on Virtual Reality and Visualization. Shenyang, China, ICVRV 2014.

Khadka, R., Sun, Z., Nguyen, A., Sakou, L., Anand, A., and Banic, A. (2014). Mobile Bimanual Touch-based Hybrid 2D and 3D Techniques for 3D Visualizations, Poster, RMCWiC, 2014.

Nguyen, A. and Banic, A. (2013). Low-cost Augmented Reality prototype for controlling network devices, In Workshop on Off-The-Shelf Virtual Reality at IEEE Virtual Reality 2013, IEEE Proceedings.

Sun, Z. and Banic, A. (2012) Immersive Visualization in a CAVE? There’s an app for that: Mobile Devices as a Universal Medium for Interaction Poster, RMCWIC, 2012.

Pradhan, N. and Banic, A. (2012) Hybrid 6DOF Mobile Interaction for Volume Manipulation in Stereoscopic Display Environments. Poster, RMCWIC, 2012.

McClendon, J., Ekandem, J., Hayes, A., Ulinski, A., and Hodges, L.. (2011) DeskTop: An Ergonomic Design for a Scalable, Collaborative Multi-Touch Display, In Proceedings of HCI International 2011, Orlando, FL.

Augmented Reality in Real World Application

Dukes, L.C., Banic, A.U., McClendon, J., Pence, T.B., Mathieson, J., Hodges, L.F., Summers, J.D. (2012) Evaluation of System‐Directed Multimodal Systems for Vehicle Inspection, JCISE.

Cairco, L., Ulinski, A.C., McClendon, J., Bloodworth, T., Matheison, J., Hodges, L.F., and Summers, J. (2010). Interface Design and Display Modalities to Improve the Vehicle Inspection Process. In Proceedings of ASME 2010 World Conference on Innovative Virtual Reality (WINVR), Ames, Iowa.

Collaborative Interaction for Classroom

Lawrence, K.*, Maas, A.*, Pradhan, N.*, Ford, T.*, Shinker, J., & Banic, A. U. (2013). Investigation of interaction modalities designed for immersive visualizations using commodity devices in the classroom. In proc. of HCI International 2013, Las Vegas, Nevada 22-26 July, 2013.

Early Childhood Interaction

Wiederrecht, M. A., & Ulinski, A. C. (2012, January). Developmentally appropriate intelligent spatial tutoring for mobile devices. In Proceedings of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp. 594-596). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Wiederrecht, M. and Banic, A. (2012) Intelligent Tutoring Systems for Early Childhood Education- Why? Poster, RMCWIC, 2012.

Asiri, Y. and Banic, A. (2012)Evaluation of Mobile Touch-Based Collaboration Styles that Facilitate Task-Focused Talk to Enhance Spatial Ability Learning. Poster, RMCWIC, 2012.

Virtual Humans

Jaff, L., Hayes, A., Banic, A.U. (2013) VWSocialLab: Prototype Virtual World (VW) Toolkit for Social and Behavioral Science Experimental Set up and Control. In proc. of HCI International 2013, Las Vegas, Nevada 22-26 July, 2013.

Hodges, L., Ulinski, A., Bloodworth, T., Hayes, A., and Smotherman, J.M. (2011) Second Life and a Platform for Creating Intelligent Virtual Agents, In Proceedings of HCI International 2011, Orlando, FL.

Hayes, A., Ulinski, A., and Hodges, L.F. (2010). That Avatar is Looking at Me! Social Inhibition in Virtual Worlds. In Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, Philadelphia, PA. Acceptance rate: 22.8%

Zanbaka, C., Ulinski, A., Goolkasian, P., and Hodges, L. F. (2007) Social responses to virtual humans: Implications for future interface design. Honorable Mention for Best of CHI Award. In Proceedings of CHI 2007, ACM Press (2007), 1561-1570.

Zanbaka, C., Ulinski, A., Goolkasian, P., and Hodges, L. F. (2004). Effects of Virtual Human Presence on Task Performance, Proceeding of the International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence (ICAT), pp.174-181.

Virtual Patients and Training

Bloodworth, T., Cairco, L., McClendon, J., Hodges, L.F., Babu, S., Meehan, N., Johnson, A., Ulinski, A. (2012) Initial Evaluation of a Virtual Pediatric Patient System. In Proceedings of Carolina Women in Computing 2012 (CWIC 2012). Columbia, SC, February 17‐18.

Ziemkiewicz, C., Ulinski, A., Zanbaka, C., Hardin, S., and Hodges, L. F. (2005). Interactive Digital Patient for Triage Nurse Training. First International Conference on Virtual Reality, Las Vegas, Nevada 22 - 27 July.

Cairco, L., Babu, S., Ulinski, A., Zanbaka, C., and Hodges, L. F. (2007). Shakespearean karaoke. In Proceedings of the 2007 ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (Newport Beach, California, November 05 - 07, 2007). S. N. Spencer, Ed. VRST '07. ACM, New York, NY, 239-240.

Navigation

Suma, E., Finkelstein, S., Reid, M.,Babu, S., Ulinski, A., and L.F. Hodges. (2009). Evaluation of the Cognitive Effects of Travel Technique in the Real and Virtual World, In IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

Suma, E.A., Finkelstein, S.L., Reid, M., Ulinski, A., Hodges, L.F., (2009). Real Walking Increases Simulator Sickness in Navigationally Complex Virtual Environments, In Proceedings of the Virtual Reality Conference 2009. VR 2009. IEEE , vol., no., pp.245-246, 14-18.

Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Babu, S. Xiao, D., Ulinski, A., and Hodges L.F. (2005). Comparison of Path Visualizations and Cognitive Measures relative to Travel Technique in a Virtual Environment. In IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

Zanbaka, C., Lok, B., Babu, S. Xiao, D., Ulinski, A, and Hodges L.F. (2004). Effects of Travel Technique on Cognition in Virtual Environments, In Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality 2004, Chicago, IL, 149-156, 286. (Acceptance rate: 20.3%)