Inspiration
To make this project, we largely wanted to enter the maker & education tracks. As we brainstormed ideas, we talked about how all of us were in high school during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We all struggled with high school labs virtually. As such, we sought to code tech for good by making labs more accessible for everyone. The assumption is that Accessible Labs is part of a program from within colleges, where they package their labs using this VR technology, and distribute headsets to nearby schools, thus making their once exclusive top-tier education accessible to anyone.
What it does
This project allows a student to complete a chemistry (NMR) experiment in virtual reality (VR). The student must pipette each chemical to into a bowl. The student must then mix it, and place a sample on the NMR machine. The student will see a NMR spectra that corresponds to the chemical they synthesized (a Schiff base).
How we built it
We built this in Unity using the C# language. We used Blender. For our VR headset, we used Meta 2 Quest.
Challenges we ran into
We struggled a lot to get the collision physics working. We eventually figured it out, but because we spent so much time on this we weren't able to implement other features in the time allotted.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're very proud that we got the gripping physics working, as this was the core of our project. We're also proud of how we made objects to put into the game. We hand-made a NMR spectrometer in Blender!
What we learned
We learned a lot about Unity, VR, and C#. In addition, we learned how to better debug issues in our code.
Ethics
Our project is intentionally ethical because there is a lot of waste that goes into certain lab experiments after it is finished. Making things virtual saves money, resources, and potential solutions for common experiments that are used to teach student key concepts. Additionally, lab accidents can be dangerous and are prevented in the virtual setting.
What's next for Accessible Labs
Since we only had 24 hours, a first step would be to polish the current experiment. This can be done by adding more chemicals, pipettes, and equipment. In addition, we'd like to make more virtual lab experiments so students can participate in incredible labs virtually.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.