Brain MRI AR vs VR

In class activity, Project 1

Sofia Vaca Narvaja Cordoba, Spring 2025

Welcome!

Imagine you're a neuroscientist researching the brain. You've run a few participants and obtained their MRI scans. Now, you have a 3D model of each participant's brain ready for analysis.

As a researcher, you’ll explore the brain models using VR and AR. The activity is divided into three parts. Make sure to note what you thought when interacting with each experience as you’ll be filling a short survey in the end.

Groups

To ensure everyone has enough space to move around, we’ll organize the participants into three groups. Here’s the breakdown:

Part 1 -> 2 -> 3: Colby, Aarav, José, David
Part 3 -> 1 -> 2: Eujin, Vishaka, Papa-Yaw, Jakobi
Part 2 -> 3 -> 1: Connor, Feiyue, Yanmi, Melvin

Part 1 - VR + Joystick (8 minutes)

Position: Sitting
In this part, you’ll be exploring the brain model in VR (with passthrough disabled). Use your joysticks to move the model around, rotate it (right joystick) and zoom in and out (left joystick).

Steps:
1. Copy the exact following link in your headset's browser: https://night-sassy-hamster.glitch.me
2. Once the page loads, click VR Mode (bottom right).
3. Take some time to explore the model (inside, outside, rotating, etc.).
4. Once you are done or if you need a pause, press the meta button on your right joystick and press quit on the browser.

Part 2 - AR + Joystick (8 minutes)

Position: Sitting
In this part, you’ll explore the brain model in AR (with passthrough enabled). Use the same joystick movements as part 1 to manipulate the model’s position, rotation, and scale.

Steps:
1. Copy the exact following link in your headset's browser: https://dust-denim-cyclone.glitch.me
2. Once the page loads, click AR Mode (bottom right).
3. Take some time to explore the model (inside, outside, rotating, etc.).
4. Once you are done or if you need a pause, press the meta button on your right joystick and press quit on the browser.

Part 3 - AR + Physical Movement (8 minutes)

Position: Standing
In this part, you’ll move around the physical space to explore the brain model (AR, passthrough enabled).

Steps:
1. Find the largest available space you can stand in.
2. Open your headset’s settings and set your own boundary, as indicated below and shown in the video on the right.
  1. Quick Settings > Boundary > Choose your own boundary > Roomscale > "Confirm floor level" Confirm > "Draw Roomscale Boundary" Suggest a boundary
3. Open the following link in your browser: https://succinct-platinum-shell.glitch.me
4. Once the page loads, click the AR button (bottom right) and explore the model physically by moving around it and into it. You can move in any direction, just be careful to not bump into anything in the real physical world ;)
5. Once you are done or if you need a pause, press the meta button on your right joystick and press quit on the browser.

Outro Survey (5 minutes) Please fill out a short survey to share your experience. Here.

Thank you!