Showing of our VR apps at Techniquest

Last night was our second public demonstration of our Virtual reality apps. Here in Cardiff there is a fun science centre called Techniquest. Every month they do an adults only evening where over 18's can be kids again and play with fun science demonstrations and experiments, whilst also having a beer! Normally alcohol and science would be a bad thing, but here it is most certainly a positive!

Techniquest very kindly let us go along to show off our two astronomy VR apps, 'Our Solar System VR' and 'Our Universe in Light VR'. To say the event was successful would be an understatement. In just a few hours we reckon we showed the apps off to around 150-200 people! We had a queue out of the door of people wanting to use the apps, they were that popular!

The feedback was really great (my job today has been to go through all of our feedback forms, which is no easy feat!) and people commented how great the VR apps were. The 'Oohs' and ''Wows' are probably the best indication of just how much people enjoyed them.

Over 200 people have already downloaded the solar system app from the app store, which is fantastic. We're hoping to get this even higher, so if you haven't got it already, what are you waiting for!?!

Science Cafe Cardiff - Showing off some VR!

I'm shattered!

Last night I was one of the speakers at Science Cafe Cardiff, as part of their monthly events where scientists, engineers, mathematicians and general STEM people give informal public talks in a pub! I was lucky enough to be able to talk about the Virtual Reality project I'm running, showing off the Solar system and Universe in light apps. Luckily the whole event didn't finish late, but there's something about organising and giving public demonstrations that tires you out!

I gave a presentation on the project, the apps and the reasoning and science behind them, but the main aim was to let people play around with the VR headsets. Virtual reality seems to futuristic. 6 months ago I had never used VR, but now I can't imagine being without it. It's great to see people using it for the first time, slowly and cautiously moving their head as they realise they are able to look around. The best bit is when people put their arms out to try and touch a virtual planet, so immersed in the VR world that they almost think it's real.


We got loads of great feedback and questions at the end. I have about 30 feedback forms to work through and see what people thought, which is really good. Next week I'm at the Techniquest science centre demoing the apps as well, which should be really fun and hopefully a bit more relaxed!

Rosetta VR: Close up view and Solar System model!

So I've spent a few hours playing with the Google Cardboard Virtual Reality app of the Rosetta mission. I've pencilled out what I want in the app (though this will inevitably change!) and had a go at the three basic parts of the app I want.

The first part of the app is a zoomed out view of comet 67P. Using the VR headset you can move your head around to look around the comet. You'll notice now that the images appear to have two mirrored copies of each other side by side. In fact, they are slightly offset from each other and provide the stereoscopic view needed to create the 3D view with the VR headsets. I added in lighting and a model of the Sun, meaning you can see what 67P looks like on the bright and dark side. There's also a model of Rosetta orbiting the comet, but it's a bit to small to see in these images.

Next up is a zoomed in view of the comet. I have a few ideas of what I'd like to have on this part, but I'm still fleshing out the idea. In the mean time, I'm enjoying getting views of the close up of the comet!

Finally I've made a model of the solar system. The hope is that in the end I will have a 3D model of the solar system, showing the journey of Rosetta since it's launch. I managed to find accurate positions of the planets from this really useful NADA site (http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi). I can also get the Rosetta positions which is great, but I need to do some work on loading arrays with c#.

I saw Brian May posted today a stereoscopic image he helped make of comet 67P. It's amazing, but I wonder what he would think of my 3D VR model!

Rosetta Jet STEREO enhanced ! Animation is here http://t.co/1zDRKDltkd @ESA_Rosetta @mggtTaylor @joelwmparker Bri pic.twitter.com/Mz3jFzDYhq

— Dr. Brian May (@DrBrianMay) August 30, 2015

Rosetta and Comet 67P in Virtual Reality!

So, I recently posted that I co-made a couple of virtual reality apps for phones, that you can check out using the cheap Google Cardboard headsets. I've been in a bit of a high since making and releasing these and have been trying to think what I'd like to do next.

I went to a great talk the other night about the recent European Space Agency Rosetta mission, which landed a probe on a comet. There are loads of amazing image of the comet named 67P and of Rosetta, but they don't really show off the scale or the beauty of the comet. So I suddenly had the idea of making a VR Google Cardboard app to show off the comet in it's full 3D glory! Partly to practice my skills at making apps, partly to use for outreach, but mainly because I want to see it.

Luckily models of comet 67P and Rosetta already exist, which makes my life a lot easier. I was worried I would have to make them myself, which would be a pain, but the European Space Agency have actually already done the hard work.

So I quickly put them in to a scene, whacked a temporary Sun in the background and added an image of the Milky Way to the overall background and here are the results!

This is what I managed after half an hour of playing this morning, but there's a long way to go before I make a really great app from the idea. Still, it's a good start. So, I'm going to give blogging about the project a go, in case people are interested in what I've done. So come back and check out my blog to see how I'm getting along!

Showing off the Solar System at Eisteddfod

So last week I was lucky enough to go to Eisteddfod, a festival in Wales that celebrates welsh culture, language and arts. Now, I'm not the artistic type (and I'm not even Welsh!), but a smaller feature of the festival is celebration of science in Wales. As a budding young scientist who studies in Wales, I ticked this box, which is how I got to go along.

A friend and I were showing off our latest science outreach project, two virtual reality apps that can be run on your phone, that let you explore the Solar System and the Universe! Using Google's Cardboard headset (which costs less than £10!), you can turn most smartphones in to a virtual reality headset.

Everyone loved the apps and were amazed at what they could see. Seeing the planets and sun in our solar system orbiting around in space in front of them drew a lot of  "Wow" and "So cool" comments. The fact that we also got the apps translated in Welsh in addition to English meant everyone was really excited about our project. I was amazed to see how friendly people at Eisteddfod were, considering I don't speak a word of Welsh. If you did see us there, thank you very much for coming and talking to us and having a look at our apps.

If you want to check out the apps and get them for yourselves for free, they are called Our Solar System VR and Our Universe In Light VR and are both on the Google Play Store!

Virtual Reality Apps I Made!

So, over the last month and a bit, I have been helping to develop some astronomy apps. The aim of them is to inspire and amaze people, whilst maybe teaching people some things. The amazement comes through the fact that they are virtual reality apps. Using the Google Cardboard headset you can explore our solar system and our universe in virtual reality. The headsets only cost around £10 on Amazon and the apps are free!

The two apps are called Our Solar System VR and Our Universe In Light VR. In Our Solar System VR, you are able to explore and travel around the solar system in virtual reality. You can look around at the planets and our sun, zoom to the planets to get a closer look and even learn some cool facts and information about each one. In our Universe In Light VR you can look at the Universe in different wavelengths of light, from radio to optical  to X-Ray. You can also check out some of the fascinating objects we can see in the Universe and learn more about each one.Both apps are completely free and all the information can be in either English or Welsh.

So why not go check out both the apps and buy yourself a Google Cardboard headset whilst you're at it. There' hundreds of other great apps to check out, so why not!