Computing student Haider Amin designs virtual reality workplace training
Scenarios take place in a risk-free environment
— Mount Royal University | Posted: March 24, 2023
Featured researcher: Haider Amin
Bachelor of Computer Information Systems
Haider Amin hopes the virtual reality (VR) training modules he designed can eventually lead to better employees and a better customer experience.
Amin tackled a research project analyzing the requirements and challenges of building such applications from the perspective of the software engineering process.
“We’re creating a framework for a virtual-reality application in which the user will be able to create, design and play their own scenarios for training purposes,” says Amin of his work as a research assistant with Dr. Yasaman Amannejad, PhD, assistant professor in computing at MRU.
In his final year of the Bachelor of Computer Information Systems program, Amin researched the implementation of VR technology using the Unity Game Engine, created complex and realistic 3D models, developed VR-friendly user interfaces and implemented interactive environments. He continued the work as part of a senior project course this year.
Utilizing C# programming language and various libraries, Amin created a documented code base that can form the foundation of future development. He spent a total of 450 hours developing the application, keeping in close contact with Amannejad to ensure to not lose focus.
At its essence, virtual-reality training gives employees the chance to gain on-the-job experience in a risk-free environment where they can learn by doing. It is an immersive learning experience that recreates real-life settings and replicate work challenges.
The training modules simulate an office environment and are designed to allow users to experience and learn proper etiquette in a meeting room scenario. The scene consists of several characters arranged around a table, Amin explains. The user is presented with a prompt, from which they can initiate the meeting and see the dialogue play out among the animated characters. The user is eventually given the opportunity to participate in the dialogue, choosing from a number of branching dialogue options that can affect the outcome. The characters will react to the user's input, not just in their dialogue, but also with their animations.
“This is meant for a workplace environment. If these modules are created and these scenarios are implemented, the hope is they will provide better training, and as employees are trained better and better and are more used to different situations, then the average person on the street will have a better time as a customer.”
Amin designed the project from start to finish, learned all the required steps and worked out solutions to problems that cropped up, skills that will serve him well in future.
“It’s also trained me to think in an innovative way, trying to figure out what the requirements are from a client’s perspective and to innovate and create new systems from scratch. Companies in the future that I would hope to be with would really want to see that kind of creative thinking.”
The support he received from Amannejad and the opportunity to conduct undergraduate research at MRU is something Amin is grateful for.
“(She) was really supportive and always backed me up when we had difficulties and problems and we always overcame them and succeeded in that regard.”
Get involved in MRU’s 2023 Research and Scholarship Days, where inquiry and investigation comes to life.