Graduate students are working with the latest technology to show off their accomplishments at the Emerging Technology Conference on Friday at Howe Hall.

“This event is all about the Virtual Reality Applications Center,” said Levi Swartzentruber, graduate student in mechanical engineering. “We’re showing off the projects we’ve been working on for so long.”

A variety of intriguing and technologically advanced projects were on display in the VRAC. Some notable demos were the Medical Data project and the Amazing Universe demo, which was a crowd favorite.

The Amazing Universe demo portrayed a fictional universe, including an asteroid belt – a cutting-edge concept backed by superior technology. The entrance to the C6 virtual lab was never without a line of people waiting to get in and tour this other world.

“This isn’t something we did for us,” said Brandon Newendorp, graduate student in mechanical engineering. “The goal was really to showcase the C6.”

The C6 was recently upgraded to display more than 1 million pixels on each side of the small room, making it the highest resolution virtual reality lab in the country.

Newendorp and his partner, Christian Noon, graduate student in mechanical engineering, packed a significant amount of work into a short time to create their technical demo.

“We did this in a couple of weeks,” Noon said. “But we both have a lot of background with the applications used to make this, and those few weeks were filled with 12-hour days. Something like this usually takes six to seven weeks.”

Although some might see demos like these as simple three-dimensional fantasies, some people in the corporate world take these projects very seriously.

“Most of the demos that were shown today, they have research grants backing them up,” Newendorp said.

The Medical Data project’s goal is to assist doctors and surgeons by condensing multiple X-ray images and medical scans into a three-dimensional image that doctors can manipulate to assist in surgeries.

This would help in analyzing the exact dimensions of objects to be removed, such tumors, and assist in the placement of orthoscopic cameras to aid in surgery.

“Each project is at varying stages, but the medical application is nearing completion,” Swartzentruber said. “They’re in the process of commercializing it now. Other projects, the concepts are there, but the technology isn’t at the same level.”