UCM Students Create Augmented Reality Application for Harry S. Truman Library

Thanks to the University of Central Missouri’s Mixed Reality Studio, students are creating real-world virtual and augmented reality applications for area organizations and businesses. Student teams are working in the state-of-the-art studio to develop custom applications designed to be used by various organizations.

 

A group of students, known as Team Neptune, are collaborating with staff from the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum on a project to enhance the museum experience by adding a projectable 3D gallery of artifacts, both on display and not, using 3D scanning technology. In addition, they will be creating a website containing more information on the current physical exhibits. The project is called the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum Augmented Reality Application.

“The Truman Library staff are excited about the project,” said Mark P. Adams, education director at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. “The UCM team brings a fresh perspective and will provide the Library a new and innovative way to explore President Truman’s life and legacy. We are looking forward to the final product and sharing it with new audiences.”

“Once the placement code is scanned with the app, this will show added content in the real world,” said Mitchell McDaniel, UCM AR/VR Team Neptune lead, “similar to how the Pokemon Go game works. We plan to display a few of the many artifacts the Library owns, most of which have never been seen before.”

The student team began working on the application last November and plan to complete it during May.

"The Truman Library's new exhibit is a world class  interpretation of the life, political career and legacy of Harry S. Truman,” said  Jon E. Taylor, Ph.D., professor of history in UCM’s School of Communication, History and Interdisciplinary Studies. “One of the seminal experiences of Harry Truman's life was serving as captain of Battery D in World War I and the UCM AR/VR team of students, working with faculty in history and educational technology, are augmenting the exhibit with additional historic photographs and letters not on display. The augmented content will allow visitors and students to gain a greater understanding of Truman's World War I experience." 

UCM’s Mixed Reality Studio provides a dedicated space and equipment for exploration of high-tech production and storytelling techniques for immersive environments. Through access to the university’s leading-edge devices, innovators are able to create, develop and deploy both augmented reality and virtual reality experiences. In addition, the studio fuels innovation, education, entrepreneurship and product development through partnerships and programs. The Gigabit Lab/Mixed Reality Studio is housed within the Lee’s Summit campus.