An approach to develop a virtual 3D stereoscopic environment for smartphones

This paper presents an approach to develop an immersive virtual three-dimensional stereoscopic environment for control education. Thanks to the technological advances and the actual continuous reduction costs on electronic devices, it is possible to create immersive 3D virtual scenarios applying the side-by-side technique; and using standard gadgets like: smartphones, and head-mounted displays. Due to the smartphone built-in accelerometer, the user can easily and intuitively control the movements around the virtual world. Also, the Wii-remote® is used as an auxiliary input device to interact with the application. The proposed method permits to interact and visualize three-dimensional virtual scenarios without the need of specialized software or browser-plugins installed in the smartphone. By taking advantage of today's smartphone technological features, students feel highly motivated to use this device as an amusing learning tool. Since this application resembles three-dimensional computer games, it attracts students, increases their concentration, and keeps their attention during the learning process.