yAsh

Howdy! I am Ash : )

Welcome to my mini-portfolio. Here you will find some cool prototypes I built at the lab. I am pursuing a Master's/Ph.D. in HCI and Cognitive Psychology from Iowa State University. I also work as a Research Assistant at the university's VRAC lab (Visualize. Reason. Analyze. Collaborate) and as an R&D engineer at Neurohue, where we address the pressing needs in clinical psychology interventions with the XR tech.

It can be challenging to find time to rest and rejuvenate in our busy day-to-day lives. As children, we had idle time to explore and observe the world. "Magic of Everyday" is a VR experience that we've created for you to explore the importance of presence and observing the magic around you and within yourself. Our experience is audience-driven and invites you to step into the darkness and discover your light. We intend to help users understand their mental responses from the experience so therapies can be developed to help with a person's well-being.

Let the sound be your guide. We bring you the magic of being in the moment and the magic of every day. Read more at: Magic of Everyday | Devpost

Responsibilities -  Design and development

A non-fiction VR learning experience inspired by the work of Diane Nash, an American civil rights activist. The experience was designed and built over a weekend for the XRBrainJam2022 with my inspiring teammates from Harvard and Columbia. We plan to expand this further based on our design plan. (2022)

Winner in the category - Achieving Equity & Social Justice

Responsibilities - Design and build app interactions

This application lets you customize various accessories of a car, like a Spoiler and a floor mat, and then visualize them on a life-size Holographic Car before making the final decision. Works with both gestures and speech commands. (Based on inputs from Microsoft's MR team)

The app also has the spatial understanding capability that scans your room and tailors the experience accordingly. (2018)

Responsibilities - Code app interactions, Spatial understanding 

Yet another experiment for Indoor navigation. But this approach used a 3D scan of the space (iPhone's LiDAR) instead of point clouds which made the content more anchored, thereby eliminating/reducing the need for point cloud localization. (2021)

This app lets you explore various parts of an engine in both working conditions and an exploded view, thereby giving the person a complete understanding of its inner workings, which wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Supports both gestures and voice commands. (2019)

Responsibilities - Code app interactions

A fun class project inspired by Star Wars exploring the capabilities of Manomotion hand-tracking SDK 

Responsibilities - App development

VR for everyone is the motto behind this prototype. This web-based VR shopping experience can run on any device that supports a browser with WebGL capabilities. Due to the limiting factor of the device and the browser, 360° panorama images were used in most areas. (2019)

Responsibilities - Coded the experience with A-frame

Holoportation is a breakthrough in terms of the way we communicate in the near future. The demo in the video requires a special setup with Kinect or any depth sensor cameras along with the HoloLens. The user wearing HoloLens can see the person/things present in the capture area anywhere in the world. (Credits to my team that were equally excited to pull off this fun/challenging experiment). (2018)

Responsibilities - Optimize Kinect point cloud stream

Since it's a mini-portfolio, only some prototypes are listed here. If you are interested in what I am working on or want to collaborate with me to solve a problem you have identified, message me on LinkedIn or email me at yash13@iastate.edu. Cheers! : )