The TAU XR Center at the Sourasky Central Library

The TAU XR Center at the Sourasky Central Library

At the Sourasky Central Library, a unique research, teaching and study center was established in the beginning of 2022: TAU XR Center for Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality. The center promotes breakthrough innovations in research and teaching.

The TAU XR Center hosts researches conducted by the Minerva Center for Human Intelligence in Immersive, Augmented and Mixed Reality – directed by Prof. Tom Schonberg from the School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry & Biophysics at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. This new research perspective aims to bridge the gap between experimental and traditional research of human intelligence, which has been conducted for years in research labs, and intelligence related phenomena as they occur in everyday life.

In addition to its key role in research, the center also holds an experiential role in the field of pedagogy. Virtual Reality enables profound interactions with Digital Environments. Using game-building technologies, for instance, can create reactive Digital Environments for improving the teaching, study and enjoyment experiences. It is a stirring, spatial technology which transfers the usage experience to an intuitive, rewarding one.

The pedagogic activities during the 2nd Semester of the 2021/22 Academic Year included the course “Virtual Architecture”, directed by architect Daniel Wachtel (School of Architecture) and the Dean of Innovation in Teaching and Learning. The course students experienced three dimensional drawing, using the Oculus Quest 2 VR Glasses kit and the Tilt Brush Application. The students created three dimensional architectural models using the Rhino Application and designed them using the Twinmotion Application. They strolled through the models they have created.

The TAU XR Center is available for researchers from many fields: Architecture, Archaeology, Cinema, Theater, Arts, Music and more. We can help you create imaginary new Worlds or revive extinct ones. The Psychology, Brain & Life Sciences researchers are trying to understand the neural basis in the human decision making process. Reality Environments can be created to research fully, monitored functions – much easier than the traditional lab experiments. Using our center to create a virtual reality would enable researching processes and reactions in a safe, controlled environment. See additional information about the TAU XR lab here.