The Villanova Immersive Studies CAVE

The Villanova Immersive Studies CAVE, managed by CEET and housed in the Falvey Memorial Hall of Falvey Library, is a four-sided (aka "C-4") CAVE. Its development was supported in part by NSF MRI/ACI grant #1338052. Like all CAVEs, it provides viewers with an immersive experience viewing and interacting with 3D virtual-reality worlds, 3D big-data displays, and 3D models of real-world locations and objects. Some of the facility's features include:

• An 18-ft wide by 10-ft deep by 7.5-ft high enclosure within which viewers can interact with a virtual world.
• An maximum of 20 viewers can use the CAVE at one time.
• A extendable projected ceiling. This means the Villanova CAVE can be operated to project on either three walls and a floor, or three walls and a ceiling.
• Integration with a robot (Seemore) designed at Villanova that carries a spherically immersive video camera array for capturing video that covers 360 degrees horizontally and 280 degrees vertically. This video can be played and controlled interactively in the Villanova CAVE.
• A commitment to use the CAVE as a dedicated classroom for courses and seminars at least two days out of each week.
• A commitment to support researchers across Villanova as well as collaborate with academic and industry researchers around the world.
• A commitment to support educational outreach to K-12 students and youth organizations.

Academic and Research Users

Villanova faculty interested in using the CAVE for course presentations of on-hand 3D material should contact us no later than the start of the semester in which they plan to use the CAVE in a course. Faculty interested in developing new material for display in the CAVE should allow for a month to a year for development time, depending on the scope of the new material to be created. Researchers (at Villanova or elsewhere) interested in exploring uses of the CAVE's visualization capabilities should contact our Scheduling Coordinator to arrange a discussion and visit.

Outreach Visits

Youth program directors and K-12 educators interested in scheduling visits to the Villanova CAVE should contact us at least six weeks in advance. This is to give time for obtaining insurance certificates and other documentation required by Villanova policies for Youth Protection. The Center of Excellence in Enterprise Technology is eager to host outreach visits, and will work with timely requests to help the paperwork process proceed smoothly. Please note, however, that Villanova's concern for youth protection requires that no youth group or K-12 class will be allowed to visit the CAVE if required insurance certificates are not provided within one week of the visit or if required permission forms are not provided to the CAVE tour host by the morning of the visit. Contact our Scheduling Coordinator for information about scheduling a visit and the required facilities use agreement.

Advice for Boy Scout/Cub Scout Units: The standard insurance certificate that local councils can provide as part of the BSA tour permit process does NOT meet the requirements of part 11 on page 3 of the Facilities Form. However, local councils can request a certificate from the National BSA Office that does meet the insurance requirements. This request can take up to two weeks to be processed, so please plan accordingly. Regarding Appendix A in the Facility Form, since all adult BSA leaders must take youth protection training and undergo volunteer criminal background checks before they can be listed on the tour permit as registered BSA leaders, the tour permit itself will be accepted as evidence for Pennsylvania-based units that registered BSA adult leaders in the group have met the background check and training requirement. If adults who are not registered BSA leaders in Pennsylvania and who are not parents of visiting minors are in the group, these must supply evidence of having completed the background checks in part B of Appendix A.