The idea existed on paper when Georgia AIM launched in 2022: build a pipeline for AR/VR training modules that can be used by manufacturers or technical colleges across the state.

But while the blueprint existed, the materials and infrastructure to create this next-generation training platform had yet to be developed. Spelman College was building a new space designed to connect the arts with technology — the Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation and the Arts — and faculty member Jerry Volcy saw this as an opportunity to rethink what a liberal arts college could do.

Three years later, Volcy is an engineering professor in Spelman’s art and visual culture division who is carving out a space for AI and immersive technology. As the founding director of the school’s new Innovation Lab, located in the Campbell Center, Volcy also leads Georgia AIM’s project to develop AR/VR technology and training in a space that encourages creativity with technology.

“It’s not as far a stretch as it seems — the Innovation Lab is really there to bridge that gap between storytelling and technology,” said Volcy, whose background involves cutting-edge work with nanotechnology, computer vision and robotics. The Innovation Lab served as a foundational piece in building Georgia’s AI workforce pipeline, but it’s one piece of a larger puzzle that’s being built from the ground up.

A Major Challenge

Part of Georgia AIM’s goal to advance AI in research and the workforce involves training using smart technologies. This includes launching new academic programs at Technical College System of Georgia campuses that align with the AI-focused needs of local manufacturers. It also includes developing AR/VR modules to assist with these programs — for example, providing supplemental training on specific machines or extending curricula into virtual environments.

Spelman partnered with Georgia AIM to develop this training, and the goal was to hire a faculty member dedicated to the project. Without a program teaching AR/VR, the college planned to ramp up classes and its own curriculum.

“It’s a chicken-and-egg problem, especially at a small college like Spelman. You need to show interest before you can justify the faculty member, but you need the faculty member to offer the course,” said Volcy. “If we have a grant, like Georgia AIM, you just hire the faculty member and away we go.”

But finding a faculty member with the right skill set — someone with experience in virtual reality programming or in the video game industry, for example — proved difficult. Rather than step back, Volcy considered another approach.

Could he take on the role and let students’ interests guide the development of the project?

“And so, the effort has been really bolstering the extracurriculars, standing up a few gaming classes, and hopefully standing up a gaming minor, with the help of some industry partners,” said Volcy. “We started with a club with three students in it. Now we have a minor with courses and students enrolled. We even have one game development independent major.”

That transformation, which allows students to explore the intersection of creativity and technology, wouldn’t have been possible without the Georgia AIM grant. Now, students at Spelman have options: They can meet friends through a Friday night gaming club and develop their own worlds in games like Roblox; they can join the research team funded by Georgia AIM that’s creating virtual environments for manufacturing training; or they can take new classes in video game concept and design and move into a world that spans entertainment and essential training.

An Expanding Industry

Devyn Washington came to Spelman as a biochemistry major. She first visited the Innovation Lab when a friend wanted to use one of the 3D printers there. A faculty member approached the pair, pointed to the group gathered at the front of the lab and asked, “Do you like video games? Would you like to learn how to make a video game?”

“I was like, ‘Sure,’ and that’s what got me in,” Washington said.

She spent so much time with the club that faculty advisers noticed and invited her to join the Georgia AIM project’s research team. Washington will graduate this year as Spelman’s first video game design major — through the independent study process — and her work on the AR/VR project has created a strong foundation for future students.

“Right now, I’m working on shoring up some aspects of immersion. In most VR experiences, you’ll see the faces aren’t really animated,” she said. “And so, I’m rigging up the characters’ faces so it’s more organic, and I’m implementing a sentient analysis so it’s not just a blank face talking to you.”

After Washington completes that work, she will document the process for new students joining the project. The goal is to develop guidelines and a framework for building virtual spaces so students don’t need to start from scratch with each new assignment.

Developing the AR/VR environments for the Georgia AIM project also requires research. Volcy and the project team must consider every interaction, how it translates to the user and how it affects the training experience. For example, if a client requests a training space that involves retrieving tools from a cabinet, student programmers must consider the placement of the cabinet, how it opens and closes, and how tools can be retrieved from an interior space.

The results could mean better-equipped employees when they begin a manufacturing job — if the interactions are realistic enough to feel like training in a real environment.

“The big question has to be efficacy, because there is a limit to what you can do in VR,” said Volcy. “So, you’re left with creating other sensory indicators that you did it right or wrong. And furthermore, it’s possible that certain cues work and others don’t … there’s so many subtleties in how we perceive the world, it’s hard to know what’s going to work and what’s not going to work.”

Volcy has students work in Unity, the industry-standard game development engine, to create the virtual worlds. As students learned programming tools and VR/AR basics, they began to take on additional projects.

One goal for the project was to work with Georgia manufacturers to create training modules for new employees. While legal constraints make it difficult to recreate exact manufacturing spaces, the students are developing a virtual reality environment where new employees can learn how to interact with objects in a virtual setting. The team is also learning that demand for AR and VR spaces is growing in sectors beyond manufacturing, and the skills students are gaining can translate across the expanding AR/VR industry.

“We’ve gotten a lot of requests for partnerships on campus. For example, the History Department has approached us about doing AR reconstructions of some of the events that have happened here on campus. The Title IX Office has a project that we’ve started in terms of bystander reactions to sexual harassment interactions,” said Volcy. “So, the roots we’re putting down have staying power.”

Because the goal of the grant is to create a pipeline of AR/VR developers, Volcy said that remains the priority. Students are documenting processes and connecting with newcomers — and potential student workers on the project — through Spelman’s video game design club.

“I’m trying to keep that pipeline full so that the work they’re doing not only serves the project but serves the bigger objective so we can continue doing this,” Volcy said. “We’re really excited about where things are going, and super grateful that we have this project.”