Vectors in Space

Vectors in Space is a Magic Leap app designed for students to understand how vectors are represented in 3D space. 

  • Students who start a course of study in Engineering Statics must complete a two week math refresher period. A large portion of this math refresher period is spent on vectors.  
  • Students sometimes experience difficulty visualizing vectors in 3D.
  • This mixed reality application allows the professor and students to draw, examine, and perform operations with 3D vectors in a real space.

Benefits: helps students understand 3D environments and vectors for the entire course of study.

(Vector In Space - Version 1.0 by Rachel De Paz)


 

  • The third module of Vectors in Space has the ability to identify a point in space and draw vectors, which represent the forces acting on the structure
  • A user can input the value and force of one of the vectors, and the app is programmed to compute/calculate the other vectors present — it is able to solve a concurrent force system

(Vector in Space – Version 3.0 by Lia Murphy and James Hasell)


Article: "Hemispheric Education & Collaboration using Augmented Reality" (via HUC News)

"University of Miami is proud to announce a hemispheric collaboration in the realm of engineering education using augmented reality (AR) technology with Tecnológico de Monterrey.

The project was developed by student developers from the UM IT Innovate team along with Dr. Arboleda from the University of Miami’s School of Engineering. The project has become a regular part of Dr. Arboleda’s curriculum and includes several modules. Professor Adriana Díaz Marchetti, Dr. Mario Covarruvias and José Luis Del Castillo, faculty at The University of Miami’s cross-hemispheric partner, Tecnológico de Monterrey (México), are also incorporating the project in their Statics’ curriculum, as well as collecting data from student experiences using the application with the support of David Daza, from the Vice Rectory of Academic and Educational Innovation at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

“Vectors in Space” is designed to help students understand vectors represented in a 3-dimensional (3D) space which is a fundamental subject for engineering studies. Statics is mostly taught in a two-dimensional environment even though it involves three-dimensional concepts. Lack of proper curriculum presentation of vectors results in the students struggling with spatial visualization, a situation often encountered in the study of Statics and other Mechanics courses. Vectors In Space uses the head mounted Magic Leap headset to extend students’ experience with vectors from 2D to 3D.

This activity, with the help of a Tensile Structure, will help students to connect theory with reality, allowing them to understand how the concepts learnt in the classroom are really representing elements in the real world by means of  identifying them in real-life situations.

The two institutions are now collaborating to test prototypes created at the University of Miami. Further development of Vectors in Space to module three will expand the collaboration between the institutions.  The goal of this project is to develop a remote collaboration application that will push the current boundaries of real-time collaborative AR."

(Vectors In Space - Version 2.0 by Aaron Geldert)


Students Rachel De Paz, Aaron Geldert
Faculty Dr. Diana Arboleda
College College of Engineering