International Conference on Virtual Reality (ICVR)

Another Roehampton MSc student presented his project titled "BlindPlayVR: A Sound-Based Game for Blind Users with Adaptive Difficulty", in an international conference. Congratulations Hassan Iftikhar for the pristine presentation during the International Conference on Virtual Reality (ICVR), in Cardiff - Wales. Here's the abstract for this project: "BlindPlayVR is a virtual reality (VR) shooting game designed for people who are blind or visually impaired, aiming to address the lack of accessibility in immersive gaming environments. The objective of this study is to explore whether spatial audio, haptic feedback, and motion tracking can enable effective non-visual interaction in a real-time VR gameplay setting. The system was developed using Unity, FMOD, Steam Audio, and the Meta Quest 3 platform to deliver accurate spatial sound and responsive interaction. A user study was conducted with blindfolded participants to simulate non-visual conditions. Results indicate that users were able to detect and respond to enemies with an average accuracy of 78.6% using audio and haptic cues alone, with response times improving from approximately 50 seconds to 30 seconds over repeated trials. Head orientation and controller-based interaction contributed to both usability and immersion. These findings demonstrate that nonvisual VR gameplay is feasible and engaging without reliance on vision. The system provides a practical framework for accessible VR game design with applications in entertainment, training, and assistive technologies"

Playing my own VR Game

Here you can get a glimpse of what it means to play a game using a virtual reality (VR) interface. The game is a VR adaptation of my other game called "Catacomb", where the play is lost inside a labyrinth trying to figure out where the exit is in the shortest amount of time time. The game involves solving puzzles, finding secret passages, and more (I don't want to give it too much away!). Developed using Unity, Blender, and Meshy.ai (for the Zombie and some of the models).

Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG 2025)

This last week, my former MSc supervisee Sunday Adams and I, attended this year edition of the Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG) in Lucerne, Switzerland. The event took place on the 4th and 5th of December 2025, at the HSLU - Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Art. Sunday presented a paper produced as a result of his Masters project entitled "Development of an Augmented Reality Tabletop Card Game: 'The Throne is Mine'" [Springer | ACM Library]. This project was born from a partnership with an educational tabletop game studio in London called Singa Games.

A brief summary of the project: “The Throne is Mine” is an innovative augmented reality (AR) card game designed for children aged 4-12, that explores the educational experience of hybrid physical-digital card play. By integrating 3d character models with traditional card gameplay, we examined how AR technology can enhance children’s memory retention and decision-making ability while maintaining the existent benefits of conventional tabletop games. His implementation used Unity 3d and Vuforia for robust image recognition, focusing on creating age-appropriate UI based on Piaget’s cognitive development framework.

Introducing the new AMETIST group

🚀 Introducing AMETIST

Welcome to AMETIST – a vibrant, informal research and study group at the University of Roehampton, London, hosted within the Computer Science department!

Originally founded in 2020 during my time at the University of Houston-Victoria (USA), I've now brought AMETIST back to life here in the UK — and it's better than ever!

🔍 What is AMETIST?

The name is an acronym that captures the wide range of creative and technical fields we explore:
Animations, Modeling, Entertainment, Tangible Interfaces, Interactive Simulations, and Technology — all rolled into A.M.E.T.I.S.T.

👨‍💻 About the Founder

I’m Dr. Rogerio Eduardo da Silva, the group’s founder and lead. My vision is to bring together curious minds — students and staff alike — to explore the use of game technologies across a wide spectrum of disciplines. We dive into areas like:

• 🎮 Virtual & Augmented Reality
• 🤖 Robotics
• 🕹️ Motion Capture
• 🎥 Computer Vision
• 🗣️ Gesture/Voice/Face Recognition
• 🖨️ 3D Modeling & Printing
• 📖 Interactive Storytelling
• 💻 Programming & Artificial Intelligence

🌍 Open to All Students

Whether you're in Computer Science, Gaming, Cyber Security, Design, Biology, Education, Creative Writing, or another field — at any level (Undergraduate, Master's, or PhD) — you're welcome!

✨ Get Involved

Curious to see what we’re up to or thinking about joining us as a volunteer? Come chat! Swing by my office (Room DB425) or get in touch. There's always an exciting project or activity waiting for you.

Let’s innovate, collaborate, and explore the future of tech together!

JCSG 2023 - Joint Conference on Serious Games

I presented the poster paper title "A Prototype of a 3D Shooter Game for the Visually Impaired Player", co-authored by Dr. Pedro Neves Rito. The idea for this project is "Visual impairment refers to a significant loss of vision that cannot be fully corrected with glasses, contact lenses, medication, or surgery. It encompasses a range of conditions, from partial sight to total blindness, and can result from various causes, including congenital conditions, eye diseases, injuries, or neurological disorders. This paper presents an ongoing project of a prototype of a 3D shooter game that is designed to be accessible to people with visual impairments. The game uses a variety of techniques to provide players with information about their surroundings, even if they cannot see. These techniques include audio cues, haptic feedback, and spatial awareness. The prototype’s gameplay mechanics are tailored to provide an engaging and intuitive experience. Players rely on auditory cues, such as varying tones, sound effects, and directional audio, to navigate the virtual world, solve puzzles, and overcome challenges. The game mechanics encourage players to use their auditory acuity and critical thinking skills to progress through the game."

This paper can be found in this link: [LINK]

Experimenting with motion capture and virtual reality in the newly refurbished Vicon lab @UHV

UHV students got to try our newly reinstated laboratory on motion capture and virtual reality. In this lab, we count with 24 Vicon cameras, several VR headsets, holographics displays (by Looking Glass), and so much more. This is a space where students can experiment with all sorts of graphical applications and serious games.

10th Workshop on Robotics in Education (WRE) as part of the 16th IEEE Latin America Robotics Symposium (LARS), Rio Grande-RS, Brazil, 2019

And now I'm back to Brazil (it has been a minute :-D) to present our paper titled "The use of Educational Robots to Engage the Youth in Computer Science: a Case Study" on the 10th Workshop on Robotics in Education (WRE) as part of the 16th IEEE Latin America Robotics Symposium (LARS), Rio Grande-RS, Brazil, 2019.

Interested in learning more about this project? Here's the abstract: The use of robotics and robot design programming was viewed to be strictly used in the domain of higher education. Degree programs like computer science, computer engineering, and even mechanical engineering utilize robotics courses to introduce students to the use of robotics in different applications. The advances in engineering and the lowered hardware cost made acquiring and building a robot an easier task for a person to get started in robotic education. That lower cost also made it possible for many organizations across the world to hold educational programs and camps to educate young students in programming and robotics. In this paper we show a case study on how robotic programming camps for teens helped shape their ideas in the computer science field and engage students in programming interest.

The paper can be found here: [LINK]