A Smart Integrated Suite for Easy and Cost Effective Virtual Reality Content Creation

Dr Chan, Leith Kin Yip   (Project Coordinator (PC))

Dr Ko Hing Tobey   (Co-Investigator)

Dr Lau Henry Ying Kei   (Co-Investigator)

24

2019-10-01

2021-09-30

10183577

A Smart Integrated Suite for Easy and Cost Effective Virtual Reality Content Creation

Integrated Su, Smart

Others - Mechanical, Production and Industrial Engineering

Engineering (E)

ITP/026/19LP

Platform Research Projects - General Award

2019

Completed

The project addresses the important issue of creation of high-quality virtual reality (VR) content for specialised training and operational scenarios in the logistics and service sectors in a fast, manageable and cost-effective manner. An integrated suite of virtual reality content creation tools, which provides the capabilities for industrial and business users to produce professional, domain-specific training and operational scenarios in fully interactable environments at minimal time and effort, is developed. The suite is backed by an artificial intelligence or AI-based virtual reality content retrieval algorithm designed to capitalise the vast availability of user-generated virtual reality content and assist the user in building the desired virtual reality content with a fraction of the time and cost than it would normally require. The project develops the above-mentioned artificial intelligence-powered full suite of tools tailored for the creation of immersive and highly interactive virtual reality content, delivering a streamlined process in fast production of cost-effective solutions for training and evaluation in virtual reality under different generic and domain-specific scenarios without needing the expertise from specialised virtual reality content developers. The integrated suite developed employs state-of-the-art artificial intelligence techniques in computer vision, pattern recognition, and natural language processing in understanding and discovery of user requirements, coupled with behaviour-based interaction modules which are well-supported by research, the suite delivers to users a versatile, expandable, and infinitely reconfigurable toolkit that is fit for any generic or domain-specific content in training and operational scenarios. Most importantly, the integrated suite developed in this project will be utilised in the development of professional-grade virtual reality content where extensive pilot trials will be conducted with Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) for intelligent scanning and presentation of air cargo, and with The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd. (HK Electric) for reconfigurable situational training, as well as The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) for cross-platform interactive virtual reality training content, in order to attune and perfect the technology with requirements in real applications.