Meet the Auburn University RFID Lab’s VR team! Based in one of the lab’s off campus locations (nicknamed the Little Lab), the VR team’s main focus is to successfully combine RFID sensors and virtual reality to create a seamless transition from the real world to the virtual. The Buzz team sat down with a few members of the VR team on Monday, July 1st and got some exciting information on their current projects.

The RFID Lab VR team was first created right after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down regular lab operations in 2020 and their first project was creating Lab Tour, a virtual tours of the lab when in-person interactions were not possible. The lab’s original goal for creating Lab Tour was a success, but the team was quick to work towards ideas for the future.

The second focus for the VR team was to create a virtual reality that could be used in the lab to represent RFID waves in a visual way that did not exist beforehand. Now, the team is not only working on content for people who cannot physically visit the lab, but has plans to include enhancing in-person lab tours by incorporating the VR technology into our existing demonstrations. Lab director Justin introduced the idea of turning Lab Tour into a multiplayer experience, but there was not an easy answer for this request. “One of the biggest issues that Lab Tour ever faced was transitioning from a single player project to a multiplayer project,” said Team Lead Harper. The creation of single player and multiplayer VR systems are two very different experiences so the team had to face some trial and error over the course of this entire project. Even though it was a tedious process, the team made the shift successfully and is now working to fine tune their projects to create an exciting environment for the lab’s VR users.

With many new projects and ideas on the horizon, the VR team shared some of the most important points they have learned over their differing times at the lab. A popular answer for this question was that it was very important for the team to create the most visually appealing VR possible. A big goal of the team is to “wow” visitors of the lab and an important aspect of that is the visual soundness of their technology. When asked about adjusting to new technology and the VR world in general, team member Daniel felt that “It took quite a lot of studying and being guided through what we already had to make adjustments without messing anything up.” This team works in a uniquely hands-on environment every day that changes with the needs of the lab and the projects they are currently working on. This learning experience includes gaining new information on coding, 3D animation, new software and hardware systems, and answering the question of what will draw consumers into the VR demonstrations of the lab’s RFID process.

The VR team is looking forward to the work they will be doing in the future, one of their main projects being the creation of a new and improved Lab Tour. The original Lab Tour was a huge success for not only the VR team, but the lab as a whole. It is with that knowledge of how useful Lab Tour was that the team wants to create a new and improved system that will further aid the lab in any way possible. The team will take a sanded down version of the original VR technology and meticulously change and improve different aspects. This “RF Playground” will be built from the ground up by the lab’s VR team, and will feature the best parts of past systems with the incorporation of exciting new ventures.

The team is excited at the prospect of this new project and how they will be able to incorporate their hard work from previous projects into future endeavors. The team cannot wait to get new programs up and running so more people can gain hands-on learning experience with RFID technology.

This week, the Lab was thrilled to receive new products to use for testing from Zebra! We are very thankful to Zebra for their generous donation, and we are excited to put all of these items to use.  

Our teams have been very excited to get their hands on this equipment! The A-Team, Alec, and Chamber teams will be using these products to explore supply chain optimization and inventory management. We look forward to all of the advancements this equipment will help our teams achieve, and are excited to hear more about the projects this equipment will be used for in the upcoming weeks.  

We are very thankful for Zebra’s generosity and their continued commitment to the advancement of RFID, and the education of the student workers in the lab.  

Meet Laura Reeder! Laura is the newest member of the RFID Lab and is joining the ARC team as a Program Manager. She graduated from UAB in 2011 with a degree in Excercise Science. After working as a Vet Tech, she moved to Auburn in 2014 and joined the School of Veterinary Science as a K9 instructor. There she worked on the Research and Development Team where she trained bomb sniffing dogs. After her work with the School of Veterinary Science, she began working at Publix, where she found her passion for managing people. She is now pursuing an Executive MBA at Auburn Univeristy, where she is honing her leadership skills and expanding her passion for working with people.

As Program Manager, Laura oversees the student operations of the ARC program. She organizes student schedules and makes sure that testing is running efficiently to ensure that the team is making good use of Auburn’s two testing chambers. Additionally, Laura makes sure that all of the various projects are adhering to their timelines and provides support to the student employees where needed. For Laura, each day looks a little different, but she is always working to ensure that the ARC Program is running smoothly.              

Laura and Kim have been married for six years and are proud pet parents. They have four dogs, peanut, Loulou, Bo, and Idgie, and one cat, Kya. In her free time, she likes to upcycle old furniture, camp, and spend time with her family. Laura’s go-to gas station snack is a bag of Gardettos Rye Chips and a Diet Coke. Her favorite Auburn tradition is the eagle flight before football games. We are so excited to welcome Laura to our team and can not wait to see the impact that she will have on the lab!

Meet Ann Lilly McDaniel, the team lead for our BUZZ team! Ann Lilly is a senior studying Apparel Merchandising and Supply Chain Management from Florence, Alabama. Ann Lilly has been working at the lab since August 2022. One of her favorite things about working in the lab is the opportunity to learn about retail technology daily! She also likes being able to work with people from different areas of Auburn’s Campus that she might not have met otherwise! After graduation, Ann Lilly hopes to work for a corporate retail company as either an inventory analyst or a buyer/planner. A fun fact about Ann Lilly is that she was actually raised an Alabama fan and chose to come to Auburn for school (she says it was the best decision ever, and we agree!) Her go to gas-station order is a pack of Sweet Tart Ropes and a Propel! We are so thankful for Ann Lilly and all the hard work that she does for the lab, and we hope you enjoyed getting to know her! Make sure to check back soon for more lab employee spotlights and other blog posts!! 

Dr. Jian Zhang is now the first ever RFID Lab Post-Doctoral Researcher! Dr. Zhang was also the first student from the Auburn University RFID Lab to earn a doctoral degree. He received the honor in December with a focus on Electrical Engineering. At the RFID Lab, he leads a team that concentrates on robotics and the blending of different technologies to create new ways to improve daily living and retail manufacturing. 

Dr. Zhang and his team are opening an entirely new avenue at the RFID Lab by focusing on public grant research. The RFID Lab has never before pursued federal grant funding, but this new team is specifically designed to partner with faculty to apply for and execute research grants focusing on automatic identification technologies with NSF, NIH, and various other agencies. The new program has been very successful; in a few short weeks the program has already generated one full grant application, with several more to come!

His first project, and one that he still works on daily, is the robot featured in the image above: Jianny 5. Jianny 5 has the brains of a Dell laptop and eyes of an Xbox camera. It also has RFID readers attached so it can auto-scan RFID tags in the mock retial store to gather data.

Dr. Zhang has also continued to update the robot’s infastructure to allow for more precise movement control around the retail store. 

Additionally, Dr. Zhang is working on a research project which combines the technology used to build Jianny 5 and the technology from a drone scanner also used for inventory purposes. The drone would have an RFID reader attached allowing it to easily fly over a room and scan all the tags within, eliminating the need for a robot to roll around the room. To continue his research in this developing technology, Dr. Zhang is applying for another research grant. 

During our previous interview, Dr. Zhang was asked a simple question: If he could speak directly to those looking at his proposal or to those interested in funding his research, what would he tell them?

“I have the knowledge, the network, and the access to the RFID innovation technology, so with the grants we receive, we can make many new technologies that help with daily life.”

Interested in learning more about Dr. Zhang and his research projects? Want to help fund his latest project? Click below to contact the RFID Lab and start a dialogue today.