Kingston University opens Centre for Augmented and Virtual Reality

March 21, 2017 | 11:44

Tags: #ar #augmented-reality #education #playstation-vr #vr

Companies: #htc #kingston-university #sony #vive

Kingston University in London has officially opened CAVE, its Centre for Augmented and Virtual Reality Environments, with which it aims to attract students looking to enter the virtual and augmented reality industry.

The result of £53,000 of investment, the CAVE facility at Kingston University's Penrhyn Road campus includes a range of hardware from HTC's Vive and Sony's PlayStation VR headsets to devices capable of tracking the wearers' eye movements and brain activity in real time. 'We are breaking the mould with this high-spec, collaborative learning environment,' crowed Vesna Brujic-Okretic, head of the School of Computer Science and Mathematics at the university, at the opening. 'Having games programming students working with design students on various aspects of a project is exactly how the digital media industry works - it's that level of inter-disciplinary work and the exchange of views that will broaden the horizons of each and every one of them and help make sure they are industry-ready.'

The CAVE facility builds on the university's existing partnership with Sony, one of twelve educational facilities in the UK to sign a deal with the gaming giant, to provide access to PlayStation development platforms and projects which are claimed to help boost employment opportunities - something confirmed by former students Luke Parlin and Zack Bloundele, who successfully pitched a virtual reality title to Sony which is currently under active development.

'The technology is at the forefront of games design and development and for students to have access to that is amazing - it's a major professional advantage and very few universities have these kinds of facilities,' claimed Parlin of his alma mater's CAVE facility. 'Virtual reality is making enormous leaps as it's developed by the games industry, but the technology itself extends beyond gaming. It's going to be huge in terms of museums and exhibitions, socialisation, as well as medical technology, and for Kingston University to be at the cutting edge is exceptional.'

More information on the courses available at Kingston University are available on the Science, Engineering, and Computing subsite.
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