Academic Feature

LOOKING FORWARD

LOOKING

by Barbara Schleppenbach, PhD ’71

Quincy University’s Title III Robotics and Virtual Reality Lab (Francis Hall 238) is home to a family of robots with varied talents: the Nao Robot v6, a Robotis Premium Kit, an Anki Cozmo Learning Robot, and Marty the Robot. The space also contains an Oculus Quest VR Headset, as well as HP ProBook laptops and several Raspberry Pi small, single-board computers. According to Husam Ghazaleh, PhD, assistant professor of computer science, the lab provides unique opportunities for students to learn programming and problem-solving skills in an entertaining environment, expand their curiosity and creativity, and prepare for the technological future. Thanks to Ghazaleh’s guidance, students have already presented two projects in the QU Academic Symposium.

THANKS TO GHAZALEH’S GUIDANCE, STUDENTS HAVE ALREADY PRESENTED TWO PROJECTS IN THE QU ACADEMIC SYMPOSIUM.

“THE FIRST, VR FOOTBALL, USED THE VR SYSTEM TO SIMULATE A FOOTBALL GAME TO TEACH PLAYERS DIFFERENT POSITIONS SUCH AS DEFENSIVE, RUNNING BACKS, AND QUARTERBACKS. IN THE SECOND PROJECT, “FACE RECOGNITION FOR NAO ROBOT,” MY STUDENT TAUGHT THE HUMANOID ROBOT NAO TO DEAL WITH FACIAL RECOGNITION UNDER DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES AND ENVIRONMENTS.” —Husam Ghazaleh

The Robotics/VR Lab is part of the U.S. Department of Education Title III-funded Center for Cyberfutures, which also includes the Business Analytics Lab, the Cybersecurity Lab, and the 3-D Printer and Network Lab.