PICO Dev Jam 2023

NC State University Libraries, in collaboration with PicoXR, recently hosted a specialized XR development and design symposium at Hunt Library’s Teaching & Visualization Studio. This symposium took place as part of PICO’s Global 2023 Dev Jam competition. The Dev Jam is focused on identifying innovative mixed reality applications and is accepting entries ranging from written ideas and powerpoint presentations to working prototypes of innovative mixed reality applications until November 10. This event connected students and faculty directly with PicoXR Studios’ SDK and Dev Support team for hands-on demos and actionable tips for developing great standalone mixed reality applications.

PICO’s development environment supports XR development in Unity or Unreal Engine 4/5 and offers OpenXR support, a highlight for our audience of open standards advocates. PICO also provided a pair of their (currently only released in Europe and Asia) PICO 4 headsets for community use within the Libraries’ VR Studio (which offers reservable high-performance workstations and other XR equipment M-F 10am-8pm daily).  These Android-based PICO 4 systems allow for .apk loading via a straightforward desktop drag-and-drop interface. Student developers were particularly enthused about the headsets’ full-color pass-through and spatial anchoring systems.

The event’s venue, the Teaching & Visualization Studio at Hunt Library features room-scale projection screens and adjustable lighting that’s really ideal for XR demos and development events such as this one; this space is available for NCSU community use and staff are on-hand to help support such events.  Hopefully, this occasion marks another precedent for future in-person industry collaborations in the extended reality sector on campus at NC State.