Rowan University's new Machine & Artificial Intelligence Virtual Reality Center, MAVRC, has been announced

Rowan University has launched a newly expanded virtual reality research center—now augmented by machine learning and artificial intelligence. 

Directed by Nidhal C. Bouaynaya, Ph.D., Rowan’s Machine & Artificial Intelligence Virtual Reality Center (MAVRC) aims to create realistic and immersive VR environments that seamlessly adapt and respond to user interactions in real time. The center’s multimillion-dollar project with the U.S. Army Picatinny Arsenal already incorporates machine learning to speed the development of a combat simulation system, which uses AI to sense the environment and recommend responses to its users. 

That’s just one example of an endless number of possible uses for the center’s technology, Bouaynaya noted.

At the nexus of artificial intelligence and mixed reality, “we’re pushing the limits of what’s possible,” Bouaynaya said. From manufacturing and transportation to healthcare and marketing, this is a strong tool with a lot of promise. 

During a demonstration on Sept. 22 at the Samuel H. Jones Innovation Center in Mantua Twp., which was attended by more than 100 guests and more than 25 eminent companies, including Deloitte, Lockheed Martin, Siemens, iWorks Corporation, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, Parts Life, Inc., and IBIS Corporation, the capabilities of the center were put on full display. 

Attendees from the United States included representatives from federal and state authorities. The Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Laboratory of the Department of Homeland Security, the Army Picatinny Arsenal, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, and the New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation, and Technology. The gathering promoted links with other colleges in New Jersey and nonprofit groups including Bancroft and Edge Inc., showcasing the center’s wide network and potential for fruitful alliances. 

In one case, an AI system actively tracked developing dangers and took action in real time, delivering a compelling and immersive experience.

George Lecakes Jr., Ph.D., the center’s associate director of virtual reality, demonstrated to viewers how the system immerses its users in a mixed-reality environment, reacting fluidly to their decisions and physical responses in real time, while also detecting incoming threats. He was holding a 3D-printed replica of a weapon made by Rowan students.     

According to Bouaynaya, associate dean for research and graduate studies and professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering, such simulation environments are developed as a simulation environment to improve the operational evaluation of military designs in a secure, immersive, smart, and robust arena. These simulation environments also serve as invaluable training grounds for AI models, speeding up their learning processes and honing their capabilities.

Since machine-driven algorithms and models may create their own virtual environments, substantially accelerating the collection of limitless amounts of data, Bouaynaya noted that MAVRC is capable of much more. 

Virtual reality and artificial intelligence combined is “a very good way to generate data to train AI,” according to Bouaynaya. 

AI is “data hungry,” according to Bouaynaya. “It learns better when you give it more examples to look at,”

The research facility has locations at the Joint Health Sciences facility in Camden and the South Jersey Technology Park in Mantua Township. It also has virtual reality systems that can immerse numerous users in virtual and mixed-reality worlds.

The Camden location has a four-sided CAVE system with space for up to four users to explore data projected onto its walls and floor while using stereoscopic glasses. Users’ whereabouts within the system are determined by an infrared tracking device, so the information displayed on the screens changes in reaction to their movements. Up to 15 individuals can utilize the Mantua system to explore data, live feeds, virtual environments, and video conferencing.