The Virtual Reality Studio is a space that facilitates the use and exploration of virtual worlds for education, research, and patient care. The space is free to all University of Minnesota Twin Cities faculty, students, and staff.
Learners at all skill levels can visit the Virtual Reality Studio to:
experience virtual and augmented reality,
attend workshops and get guidance,
apply technology to course content and course assignments,
participate in simulated experiences, and
create or use virtual and augmented environments to support research and education.
Virtual Reality Studio staff offer help with projects from idea to implementation.
Open hours and appointments
We have Open Hours for UMN students, staff and faculty to drop in, ask questions, and explore their interests in virtual and augmented reality. See the hours that are posted on this page.
Appointments outside of these hours are available upon request for educational or research interests.
Insta360 One X camera with a Bushman V2 monopod (1)
Portable green screen (1)
Borrowing equipment
UMN students, staff and faculty can use their UCard to borrow:
Oculus Quest headsets
Insta360 One X camera with monopod included
Portable green screen. Contact Charlie Heinz ([email protected]) in advance.
The typical loan period is three days. The items are available at the library service desk located on the 5th floor of the Phillips-Wangensteen Building, just across the skyway from the VR Studio. Access to the portable green screen needs to be planned in advance. Contact Charlie Heinz ([email protected]) for help.
Additional 360 cameras can be found at Walter Library. These 360 cameras allow you to create videos and photos that can be viewed in virtual reality headsets.
“Do no harm” is a major tenet of the physicians’ creed, in the Hippocratic Oath or a modernized version of it. To reduce risk and improve training, Medical School students participate in simulated clinical experiences where standardized patients — real people trained to show up with certain symptoms — interact with physicians-to-be in a room set up like a clinic or an emergency room. Now, the U’s emergency medicine students are testing in the Libraries’ Virtual Reality Studio.
University of Minnesota design student wins national award with help from the Libraries. The prize? A paid internship at the Kate Spade fashion house in New York City this summer. “Our students have the cutting edge skills that they need” because of the Libraries’ virtual reality studio, says Professor Juanjuan Wu.
Teresa Bisson works with the Bio-Medical Library to bring Virtual Reality to her neurorehabilitation classroom where students are immersed in a virtual experience. Through active learning, Bisson’s students are becoming thoughtful users of technology and leaders in a new health care environment.
