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EduVRGameLab Laboratory

Who are we?

We are an inter-department research unit at the AGH Faculty of Humanities.

What do we do?

We examine and make use of digital games as well as Virtual and Augmented Reality technology's socio-cultural potential.

Invitation

Everyone interested in VR/AR technology as well as digital games is welcomed. We are open to exchange of thoughts and run cooperative scientific or commercial projects; we are ready to help students who need support and technological facilities for their first projects on immersive technologies.

Our staff:

  • EduVRGameLab manager: dr hab. Jowita Guja, prof. AGH - philosopher and cultural researcher
  • Deputy manager: dr hab. Grzegorz Ptaszek, prof. AGH - psychologist and media expert
  • Social media: dr Damian Gałuszka - sociologist and game scholar
  • Dr hab. Jakub Gomułka, prof. AGH - philosopher and computer scholar
  • Dr hab. Tomasz Masłyk, prof. AGH - sociologist
  • Dr hab. Jan Stasieńko, prof. AGH - psychologist and game scholar
  • Dr Krzysztof Maj - literary scholar and game scholar
  • Dr Anna Olszewska - art historian and cultural researcher
  • Dr inż. Mirosława Długosz - biomedical engineer
  • Dr Dorota Żuchowska - sociologist
  • Dr Maria Stojkow - sociologist
  • Dr Rafał Olszowski - political scientist, sociologist
  • Dr Adam Żądło - multimedia artist, graphic designer, and movie director
  • Dr Szymon Piotr Kukulak - literary scholar and game scholar
  • Mgr. Jan Smolarczyk - game/web developer
  • Andrzej Koziński - VR developer
Grafika promocyjna wydarzenia uniVRsity 9

CaveVR at Ground Control in Venice

07.09.2023

Cave VR beta version was presented at the exhibition "Ground Control" that accompanied Venice Film Festival. The application, authored by Jowita Guja and Adam Żądło, is a joint enterprise of Łódź Film School and EduVRLab.

uniVRsity 9 promotional image

uniVRsity 9: Virtual Influencers

29.11.2021

Our guest, Marcin Klimek, delivered a paper called "Virtual Influencers and a new era of social media".

"VRsophy: the Cave" is an interactive adaptation of the classic Plato's metaphor. The experience requires not only mental but also physical effort: this underlines the experiential dimension of philosophy. The core of the metaphor is a glitch in the Matrix, a discovery of a new reality; what is known and generally acknowledge turns out false again and again. We give the philosophical conception a new life through the sensual process of exploration that engage body in such interactions as swimming, climbing, going through spacious mazes, snatching, bending down, and listening.

A black-blue flounder underwater

Project coordinators: Jowita Guja i Adam Żądło

Senster - a cybernetic sculpture

Science:

  • Anthropology of Virtual Reality
  • Socio-cultural and educational potential of VR & AR
  • Video games research
  • Interactions with robots and ethology of machines

Research projects:

  • How to make a VR-impression? Authenticity in Virtual Reality communication (coordinators: Jowita Guja, Adam Żądło)
  • Research on synesthesia with a use of scent stimuli and VR environment (coordinator: Jowita Guja)
  • Digital storytelling and gamification as means in the development of students' digital competences (coordinator: Grzegorz Ptaszek)
  • Interactions with robots and ethology of machines (coordinator: Anna Olszewska)
  • The application of AR and VR technologies in diagnosing and solving social problems (coordinators: Dorota Żuchowska-Skiba, Maria Stojkow)
  • Immersion, telematicity and the manifestations of digital worldsensing (coordinator: Krzysztof Maj)
  • Historical analysis of the VR technology research (coordinator: Damian Gałuszka)

Courses:

  • Coding virtual environments
  • Socio-cultural potential of VR and AR
  • Virtual reality in business
  • Game design
  • Machine perception

Classes held by the EduVRGameLab team:

  • Socio-cultural potential of VR and AR - Jowita Guja, Damian Gałuszka
  • Virtual reality in business - Dorota Żuchowska-Skiba
  • Coding virtual environments - Jowita Guja, Andrzej Koziński
  • Visuality in shaping a virtual world - Damian Gałuszka
  • Introduction to Video Game Studies (UBPO) - Krzysztof M. Maj
  • World-building in Video Games - Krzysztof M. Maj
  • Game Design: World-building for Video Games - Krzysztof M. Maj
  • Game Design: Story Prototyping - Krzysztof M. Maj
  • Machine perception - Anna Olszewska
  • The art of new media - Anna Olszewska
  • Programming robots - Mirosława Długosz

Realizations:

  • Experimental adaptation of a philosophical text as a VR game
  • Synesthesia research using custom-made VR application
  • VR Escape Room
  • Educational survival game

Working projects:

  • VRsophy: the Cave

    "VRsophy: the Cave" is an interactive adaptation of the classic Plato's metaphor. The experience requires not only mental but also physical effort: this underlines the experiential dimension of philosophy. The core of the metaphor is a glitch in the Matrix, a discovery of a new reality; what is known and generally acknowledge turns out false again and again. We give the philosophical conception a new life through the sensual process of exploration that engage body in such interactions as swimming, climbing, going through spacious mazes, snatching, bending down, and listening.

    A black-blue flounder underwater

    Coordinators: Jowita Guja, Adam Żądło

  • Synesthesia research using custom-made VR application and scent samples

    The research is focused on the influence of color and shape on the reception of scent stimuli; the tests are done within a virtual environment.

    A women wearing a VR headset smells a scent sample

    Coordinator: Jowita Guja

  • WH.ER

    An Escape Room type VR game is based on a real AGH Faculty of Humanities Escape Room created in 2017 for promotional purposes. The goals of the application is to integrate the AGH community and preserve the idea of the original Escape Room which was only a temporary installation.

    A screenshot from the VR game prototype depicting letters of alphabet painted in black on a yellow wall. There is an old-fashioned armchair in the corner and the wall behind is covered with sheets of paper.

    Coordinator: Jan Smolarczyk

  • Dawn of Exile

    Educational survival game that aims at teaching technical skills in schools without designed physical workshops. Tests of the appliaction proved that this way of learning technical skills is efficient and also interesting for students. Therefore, despite many changes of the team, the application is still developed. Educational institutions will be able to use it for free.

    A VR game screenshot in a low-poly style depicting a grassy bank of a sea and a sunny sky.

    Design: Alex Świątkowski and Kamil Szczerbik

    The creators' website

EduVRGameLab Laboratory is open for cooperation with scientific institutions, schools, and firms.

    We provide:
  • Substantive support of the EduVRGameLab staff and associates: the team specializes in media and digital education
  • Technical support of the EduVRGameLab staff and associates
  • Extensive technological facilities of the laboratory: HTC VIVE, HTC VIVE Cosmos, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Oculus Go

VR trainings

EduVRGameLab XR open meetings

Nowadays, virtual reality environments find more and more applications in education and training sector. The list of VR applications is long: military simulators, medical simulators, simulators of appliances whose use is difficult or dangerous; public speeking trainers, soft skills trainers; all the situations when the use of VR technology lowers costs without lowering the quality of training.

Organizations wanting to use such a form of education and training often face the problem of inaccessibility of the VR technology: the headsets are expensive and require a designed physical space as well as skilled staff.

EduVRGameLab Virtual Reality and Games Research Laboratory affiliated to the AGH Faculty of Humanities offers the possibility to organize a VR training in the Laboratory place with a use of the Laboratory technological facilities.

VR and AR applications tests

VR applications tests run by the EduVRGameLab staff

We offer a possibility to conslut and test VR and AR applications on a wide variety of devices on a different stages of the application development process.

Workshops in programming robots for kindergarden and primary school children

One of the EduVRGameLab's remotely controlled educational robots

Robots can be applied in education; they are particularly helpful in developing technical and programming skills. Their important advantage is the possibility to teach the basic elements of coding – such as logical expressions, loops, conditional clauses, arithmetic operations – without having to learn formal programming languages or even writing and reading skills. There are a number of various models of educational robots available and their list changes rapidly. Sometimes, the institutions which would be interested in using robots in education have no resources to do the market research or to buy the devices. EduVRGameLab Virtual Reality Research Laboratory at the AGH Faculty of Humanities provides a viable solution by offering workshops in programming robots for kindergarden and primary school children. We use the following educational robots: Photon, Cue, Lego Mindstorm, Ozobot, Krypton.

At the Faculty

A VR headset Training meeting Synestesia research Educational robot The developers of one of the project An XR-related presentation New room 111 at C-7 building New room 111 at C-7 building New room 111 at C-7 building

Outside the Faculty

A panel in a VR environment Metallurgical hall The EduVRLab team in a metallurgical hall The EduVRLab staff in a VR games salon - treadmill The EduVRLab members in a VR games salon The EduVRLab stand at the festival in Gdańsk, 2019 The EduVRLab stand at 2022 Open Eyes Economy Summit in Kraków The EduVRLab stand at 2022 Open Eyes Economy Summit in Kraków The EduVRLab stand at 2022 Open Eyes Economy Summit in Kraków The EduVRLab stand at 2022 Open Eyes Economy Summit in Kraków

EduVRGameLab Discord server EduVRGameLab Facebook page Email address: guja@agh.edu.pl

Physical location: AGH University of Kraków (Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza im. Stanisława Staszica) Faculty of Humanities (Wydział Humanistyczny) ul. Czarnowiejska 36 (C7) 30-054 Kraków Rooms: 111, 523

AGH Faculty of Humanities on Google Maps

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