The Sensory-Friendly Spaces Initiative is an emerging, cross-campus effort to make ASU a more welcoming environment for neurodivergent individuals and anyone who benefits from lower-stimulation, more predictable experiences. This initiative is grounded in both research and lived experience. It aims to address physical spaces, event environments, and potentially digital experiences—supporting sensory regulation, reducing overwhelm, and…

The Arolla–NewsWell project was a three- to six-week R&D sprint led by Next Lab in collaboration with NewsWell, focused on exploring digital-to-print publishing workflows using WordPress and Adobe InDesign. The goal was to assess whether NewsWell’s original AWS-based prototype—featuring AI-assisted copy trimming, image handling, and single-page InDesign exports—could be replicated using existing WordPress tools, ideally…

In a partnership with Mayo Clinic, a team of Next Lab student workers are creating a virtual reality training simulation for medical students to practice diagnosing strokes. This proof-of-concept features hyper-realistic 3D models of medical patients that are able to be directly interacted with using VR hand-tracking controls and voice-recognition. Using the National Institutes of…

Project Acacia, led by Afghan Scholars in collaboration with Next Lab during Fall 2024, explores using 3D technologies to create high-fidelity digital twins of real-world environments. These 3D, interactive models enable stakeholders to explore, analyze virtually, and plan spaces, with applications in urban planning, retail attraction, and infrastructure development. Project Acacia demonstrates the power of…

Next Lab is collaborating with the Institute for Digital Inclusion and Access (IDIA) to create and facilitate lessons and activities in emerging tech literacy, game design, worldbuilding, and more to community members of all ages. To bring emerging technology education to community members across the Arizona valley, Next Lab has partnered with the Institute for…

The Next Lab Game Engine Guild’s take on Conway’s Game of Life turns a classic math toy into an interactive, kaleidoscopic sandbox built in Unity. Instead of a single “alive vs dead” state, cells can take on multiple colors—each with its own ruleset and behavior. The result is a deterministic but endlessly surprising system: swirling,…

PONG is a collaborative Unity game project created by Next Lab’s Game Engine Guild, exploring incremental mechanic evolution within a classic arcade format. Each round begins as standard Pong, but every subsequent level introduces a unique gameplay gimmick—altering physics, controls, objectives, or level rules. These gimmicks do not stack; instead, each level has its own…

Next Lab’s Digital Storytelling Guild is excited to begin its first guild project with the launch of their Literary Magazine, The Future! The purpose of this magazine is not only to tell exciting, thought provoking, and complex stories, but also for guild members to improve and expand upon their skills as writers and collaborators. The…

Global Culture Explorer is a VR experience designed by Next Lab’s User Experience & Research Guild to help users discover cultures through everyday life, not just tourist landmarks. The project aims to make cultural learning more immersive, authentic, and empathetic, allowing users to virtually stroll through local streets, observe habits, and engage in simple interactions…

The Technical Artistry, Modeling, Animation, & Concept (TAMAC) Guild is developing an interactive VR Art Gallery that showcases artwork created by Next Lab Associates and anyone in the community who wishes to join in and have their artwork featured. The gallery serves as a living and evolving space for digital creativity combining 2D, 3D, and…