On Thursday, we had a movie night and watched Spirited Away. I feel like I belong here now that I’ve watched a studio Ghibli movie. It was pretty good though, I liked it. 

Dr. S came in to chat with us yesterday. Her area of research is so different from what we do in the VRAC, but it was still really cool to hear about the impact that her research has on individuals with Parkinson’s disease. There has also been a trend in the speakers that come to talk – most of them don’t end up where they thought they would when they were undergrads. To me, that thought is somewhat intimidating but also exciting at the same time 

Yesterday all of the interns split into our deeper dive groups to meet with our teachers. My group spent the first session covering the basics of XR, and the second half brainstorming project ideas, and discussing the articles we found relating to our project. Our team has decided to do a group project involving hiking. The goal is to develop a VR environment with interactive elements that will increase the user’s well-being, their confidence in hiking scenarios, and their knowledge about how to react during life-threatening hiking scenarios. In doing so, we hope to motivate the user to go out into real-life nature, feeling confident in their hiking capabilities, and reap the benefits to their health. Our motivation for this idea is that the #1 cause of deaths among hikers is falling, particularly during descents and by the hikers who are considered “good” hikers. Additionally, humans are becoming increasingly distant from nature, which has huge negative repercussions to mental health. By giving the user an immersive nature experience, we hope they become motivated to enter real-life nature environments so they can feel a connection to nature and improve their overall well-being.  

The curiosity crew met with Aron yesterday as well. We were able to test out the Muse headband for the first time, which I enjoyed. This headband is just a device that lays on your forehead to measure the user’s brain waves. After we collected data for a few minutes on Sophie, we used a MatLab script to analyze that data. Now, we have to figure out how to analyze the data we collected using the BioSemi in the EEG lab from the 64-electrode cap. 

After class, a few of us interns, Anjali, and Alex walked to the boba shop near campus. Some people are becoming regulars there, and it made me laugh how the woman taking orders already knew what some people were getting. 

Then we had a girls night. We picked up some beads from Walmart, took over the guys’ room while they were out (we wanted their projector), put on Challengers, and just hung out. I never ended up making a bracelet last night because the movie was too good. I have a vision though, so I’m excited to make them some other time. 

The plan for this morning was to hike at Ledges park, but the weather forecast said rain, so we’re going out to breakfast instead and then maybe the waterpark later today.