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Innovate Maryland: Emerging Tech + Art Expo

Thank you to everyone who joined the University of Maryland campus community on the evening of Tuesday, May 10th exploring and interacting with emerging technologies through immersive media art, interactive augmented experiences, and virtual adventures in the Discovery District.

Photos from the event can be found in this Flickr Album. Special thanks to University photographer, Hong Huynh, for capturing these beautiful photos.

    A short formal program will commence at 6:00 PM with guest speakers.

    Portrait of Aishwarya Tare

    Aishwarya Tare

    MAVRIC-IMD Catalyst
    Portrait of Patrick Warfield

    Patrick Warfield

    Associate Dean for Arts & Programming, Director of Arts for All, and Professor, Musicology
    Portrait of Roger Eastman

    Roger Eastman

    Director, IMD

    Event Information

    TBK VR
    The Big Knot VR

    The Innovate Maryland: Emerging Tech + Art Expo is a production of MAVRIC in collaboration with the University of Maryland’s Immersive Media Design (IMD) program housed in the College of Arts and Humanities and the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences along with support from the campus-wide initiative and event sponsor Arts for All Initiative.

    Throughout the evening, attendees will be able to engage and interact with more than 25 augmented, virtual, and mixed reality demos and exhibits inside the The Hall CP Longhouse, as well as throughout the ground floor of WeWork College Park.

    A listing of the confirmed exhibitors can be found below, as well as more information about the event venues, directions to the Discovery District, The Hotel at UMD, and our Partners and Sponsors.

    This event is open and free to the public; however, all attendees need to register prior to the event as space is limited.

    Tuesday, May 10th, 5:00-9:00 PM ET

    The Hall CP & WeWork College Park


      Exhibitors

      AADHum

      African American Digital and Experimental Humanities Initiative (AADHum)

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      ARTECHOUSE

      ARTECHOUSE

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      Avatar dimension

      Avatar Dimension

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      BlackBroadwayonUlogo

      Black Broadway On U: 360 Virtual Tour

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      Break Through Tech DC logo

      Break Through Tech - DC

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      BRICKROSE

      BrickRose Exchange

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      Brightline logo

      Brightline Interactive

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      Capitol Interactive

      Capitol Interactive

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      CorruptoArtistrylogo

      CorruptoArtistry

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      DesignedbyKeem logo

      DesignedbyKeem

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      DopeNerd

      Dope Nerds

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      FlowerSTEM

      Flower STEM

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      Headwall

      Headwall

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      irLh logo

      Immersive Realities Labs for the humanities

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      APL logo

      Johns Hopkins Applied Phyics Laboratory

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      Navteca

      Navteca

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      NONUMENT

      NONUMENT

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      Specterras

      Specterras Productions

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      Startup Shell

      Startup Shell

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      TheBigKnot

      The Big Knot

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      UnderTheBay

      Under The Bay

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      VRAR Podcast

      VR/AR Associaton DC Chapter Podcast

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      VRCOLAB logo

      Virtual Reality Collaboration Lab

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      XR Club logo

      XR Club

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      XR EcoMap

      XR EcoMap

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      ZROverse

      ZROverse

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      Explore Exhibitors

      Here is a taste of what some of the exhibitors will be showcasing during the event.

      • African American Digital & Experimental Humanities at UMD (AADHum) will be demoing .break .dance Hexagons, an augmented reality and physical computing project that experiments with bringing born-digital scholarship into the physical world.
      • Avatar Dimension will have a number of QR codes for webAR experiences that showcase its 3D digital humans. The company will also have a TV monitor with a looping video that will have more information about its studio and technology.
      • BadVR will be demoing an immersive data visualization platform called SeeSignal where users can visualize RF signals in the room. Another demo will be of BadVR's Augmented Reality Operations Center (AROC), which shows an immersive training experience from geospatial maps to a digital twin of a T-38 jet.
      • Brightline Interactive will be demoing "Pose with the Pros," an AR photo experience where fans are able to take photos with players from their favorite teams, characters from cartoons and other groups.
      • Dope Nerds will offer VR experiences in gaming, edutainment, and wellness.
      • EcoMap will be demoing one of its latest platforms - the XR EcoMap, a platform that contains over 1,000 startups in the AR/VR space as well as 500 jobs/internships that are primarily geared for students or recent graduates.
      • Artist George Sabra will be demoing his first virtual reality art experience, The Big Knot (TBK), which was created in response to the UN Climate Change Summit COP26 held in Glasgow, Scotland, UK last November. Viewers will be able to explore at scale 196 oil barrels connected end-to-end with each barrel painted in the colors of the flag representing a country attending COP26.
      • Headwall is the first secure, virtual command center, allowing all of the functionality of a traditional command center or critical space in a photo-realistic virtual environment.
      • The Immersive Realities Labs for the humanities (imLh) will demo a few projects including "What's in your air?," an interactive AR project that invites users to learn about the molecules common in the air around us. Check out the project on Snapchat.
      • JHU APL will demo its AR Antenna Visualization app which provides a way for users to visualize and understand antenna power emissions using physical props and a phone app. The ability to "visualize the invisible" provides a powerful intuition for users to better perceive a subject which is often hard to communicate effectively.
      • Navteca will engage attendees in immersive visualization using game engine technology featuring NASA Earth data, geospatial 3D terrain, and disasters-related data such as fault lines, landslides, and floods
      • The Museum of Virtual Reality powered by VRCOLAB is leading the fight to digitally preserve African American Cultural Heritage sites and experiences, especially since only 2% of the 95,000 entries on the National Register of Historic Places focus on the African American experience. The super power of the Metaverse and Digital Twin Technology is to show so much more of the full American story than we ever could before.

      Also, below are a few videos of what you will get to experience and interact with.

      This intimate, reflective re-enactment, a part of an independent, multi-platform story, Black Broadway on U: A Transmedia Project created by the Indigo team; chronicles and examines the social justice impact, historical and cultural influence of D.C.’s historic greater U Street/Shaw corridor during it heydays of the early 1900s to late 1950s.
      HaptX Gloves DK2 achieves a level of realism that other haptic devices can't match. They're the only gloves with true-contact haptics, with patented technology that displace your skin the same way a real object would. With 133 points of tactile feedback per hand, for full palm and fingertip coverage.

      HaptX Gloves DK2 feature the industry's most powerful force feedback, ~2X the strength of other force feedback gloves. They're also the most accurate motion tracking gloves, with 30 tracked degrees of freedom, sub-millimeter precision, no perceivable latency, and no occlusion.
      Navteca, along with the NASA Applied Sciences Disaster Applications Group, within the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, is successfully exploring virtual and augmented reality technologies for the next generation of Earth science technology information systems. Recent research focuses on disaster applications data and finds that VR is a promising approach to better understanding and communicating Earth data to a variety of end users, from scientists to decision makers. VR/AR/MR may potentially enhance decision-making tools for disasters and climate adaptation.Navteca, along with the NASA Applied Sciences Disaster Applications Group, within the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, is successfully exploring virtual and augmented reality technologies for the next generation of Earth science technology information systems. Recent research focuses on disaster applications data and finds that VR is a promising approach to better understanding and communicating Earth data to a variety of end users, from scientists to decision makers. VR/AR/MR may potentially enhance decision-making tools for disasters and climate adaptation.
      "NONUMENT 01:: McKeldin Fountain” is Baltimore’s first virtual monument located in the Inner Harbor and free speech zone. In opposition to bronze and stone, the nonument or “no monument” recreates the destroyed Brutalist-style monument the City of Baltimore and private partners tore down in January 2017. Using this app, anyone can put back the fountain and experience first-hand memories from ordinary activities, art events and protests, including uprisings following the death of Freddie Gray, Peace Vigils, LGBTQ issues and Occupy Baltimore.
      Among the projects the XR Club at UMD will be demoing includes Spray AR, which allows a user to experience spray painting using their mobile device without using actual paint
      Take a look at ZROverse's virtual world/metaverse project.

      Event Venues

      The Hall CP Longhouse

      LongHouse

      The Hall CP Backyard

      BackyardHallCP

      WeWork College Park

      wework


                                        


      Overnight Option

      Coming to College Park and need a place to stay, consider staying at The Hotel at UMD. This four star hotel looks over the verdant University of Maryland campus. It is also adjacent to the WeWork and directly across the parking lot from The Hall CP. The Hotel at UMD is offering a special rate for all exhibitors and attendees of this event, which can be accessed through this link.

      1 of 5
      TheHotelatUMD
      The Hotel at UMD in the Daytime
      HotelatUMDevening
      The Hotel at UMD in the evening
      HotelatUMDlobby
      The Hotel at UMD Lobby
      HotelKingBedroom
      The Hotel at UMD King Bedroom
      HotelatUMDTwoQueensBedroom
      The Hotel at UMD Two Queens Deluxe Bedroom

      Thank You to our Partners & Sponsors

      ArtsforAll

      Arts for All

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      ARHU

      College of Arts & Humanities

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      CMNS

      College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

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      UMD Research

      Division of Research

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      IMD

      Immersive Media Design

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      HallCP

      The Hall CP

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      HotelatUMD

      The Hotel at UMD

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