Rylan Pozniak Daniels, a senior majoring in arts, technology and the business of innovation, has been involved in the developing world of virtual and augmented reality for almost a decade. To build on this passion, he worked closely with Apple’s new spatial operating system to develop ARLingo — the first spatial language-learning app to be available on the new Apple Vision Pro App Store. 

Inspired by the potential computing systems hold for the future, Daniels’ work and accomplishments have not been limited to working alongside NASA engineers and Artemis astronauts, winning several XR hackathons and receiving the Nextant Prize for AR/VR social impact. Creating ARLingo, though, has been the “ultimate passion project and dream,” Daniels said. 

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During the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2023, Apple announced the creation of its first-ever virtual and augmented reality headset. Pre-orders began Jan. 19 leading into the official launch that was Feb. 2 — ARLingo was amongst the first apps to launch simultaneously. 

Principled on the premise of creating an interactive environment through virtual characters, ARLingo is dedicated to “help users gain confidence in speaking new languages,” Daniels said. Through spatial computing, users are not only immersed in the region of their desired language, they also get to simultaneously interact with characters via their eyes, voice and hands. 

In a written statement to the Daily Trojan, David Nelson, director of mixed reality research and development at the Institute for Creative Technologies — a unit of USC Viterbi — explained how spatial computing is able to provide such immersive and interactive experiences: “The Apple Vision Pro head-mounted-display (HDM) is outfitted with LiDAR and Depth sensors that create a fused 3D map of the environment, so that it can render digital content correctly in the space around the user.” 

As a result, ARLingo provides users with a simulated experience of what traveling abroad might be like and in doing so, “it helps users practice the new languages in real world scenarios, like booking a taxi cab or ordering food at a restaurant,” Daniels said. “A spatial immersive environment really enhances the way you learn a language because you feel like you are in that situation.” 

Over the years, research on language learning has centered around the benefits of immersion. In a study published by UC Santa Barbara, researchers Dorothy Chun, Honeiah Karimi and David Sañosa placed emphasis on the benefits of immersive virtual reality for language learners. The study found that IVR allowed for pragmatic teaching and “languaculture” learning, including the nonverbal aspects of communication that are essential to the cognitive processes involved when learning a language. 

Guilan Siassi, associate teaching professor of French, said in an interview with the Daily Trojan that although her curriculum does not currently include the use of apps, she does think IVR is an interesting idea as it goes one step further than the static interface apps like Duolingo currently provide. 

“Language learning is just about immersion, as much immersion as you can get,” Siassi said. “Anything that is task-based, that gets you to practice your functional skills as close to authentic interactions as possible, I think is a great idea. If you can’t actually go to the country, I think the use of artificial intelligence could be great to get you to do that, and virtual reality could be great to get you that immersion essential to language acquisition.”

Following Apple’s announcement at WWDC, Daniels was invited to work directly with Apple Vision Pro hardware. Alongside engineers and teams at Apple, he worked on helping create and optimize an intuitive and interactive experience for the emerging hardware. While engaging in this collaboration, Daniels, as the sole creator of ARLingo, focused on putting together his app. 

“I put together the coding, the design, even the audio when it comes to voices that the characters would use throughout the experience,” Daniels said. 

While being a full-time student and AR and VR developer proved difficult at times, Daniels said he was able to work hard and keep everything balanced. As a result, when Apple Vision Pro was released, ARLingo stood among the first few apps available for use on the new App Store. 

“It’s not every day that Apple has not only a brand new iteration of a hardware device, but actually a new App Store,” Daniels said. “This is the first time that there’s an app store specifically for spatial computing applications and games.” 

His experience as a student coupled with his passion and anticipation for Apple’s release became not only his biggest source of inspiration during the development, but also shaped the process into a positive experience. 

“It’s actually really fun and unique to be a student while being an AR/VR app developer,” Daniels said. “Being a student is all about exploring new things and I am making an educational experience for the headset, so that student perspective was really helpful in crafting the learning experience that is essential to ARLingo.”

Daniels hopes that moving forward, technological advancements, like his app and those yet to come, will create positive and enriching impacts on language learners around the world.

“I really see this project and this app as an opportunity to facilitate global connection in today’s world,” Daniels said. “The long term vision is, if this app can enable more immersive language learning, it can also enable people around the world to connect in ways that weren’t possible before.”