Vikram Agrawal first became interested in virtual reality during the coronavirus pandemic when he had a lot of free time on his hands. That interest led the junior majoring in computer science and business administration to take a Viterbi School of Engineering class on augmented reality and do a research assistantship in the field. 

The now-president and founder of SpatialSC had been thinking about starting a spatial computing club for a long time — since at least this past November.

Eventually, after deliberating over the decision, he created the club. Now, it’s a new community for augmented reality and virtual reality enthusiasts that offers workshops, training, community and support for innovators.

Agrawal said he sees spatial computing as not just the combination of virtual reality, mixed reality and augmented reality, nor just a single tool or technology, but rather as a “paradigm [shift] of human computer interaction.”

“I really see all three of those as within the larger umbrella of extended reality,” Agarwal said. “The reason we’re called SpatialSC is because spatial computing is a layer on top of all that where its how are these extended reality and other forms of spatialized 3D computing going to impact society and our day-to-day lives.”

At their first meeting this past Wednesday, club members got to test out VR headsets for the first time. While the club is currently relying on Agrawal’s personal Meta Quest VR headset, Agrawal hopes that the $40 membership fee can be used to buy more of them. The issue will be put to a vote later in the semester, and he’s also seeking to get funding from the Undergraduate Student Government. 

Students used the headsets to virtually stand on a space station orbiting an exoplanet to Beat Saber — a VR video game in which users have to slice floating blocks in beat with various songs. Natalie Chang, a sophomore majoring in computer science, said she was intrigued by the VR’s ability to detect a user’s playing boundary and warn them if they were leaving it. 

“The startup shooting [game] was so cool,” Chang said. “There’s so many things going on … it shows you the [game zone] boundaries and everything. I don’t really know how they do it, but maybe we could learn how to do that.”  

Agrawal sees the club not just training students on how to use and work with VR and AR — although that will be a key part — but also as a club that will deliberate over the societal implications of spatial computing.

This focus was on full display during the first club meeting. For a nearly hour-long activity, students had to choose from a list of 10 options such as human connection, education, mental health and civic engagement. Then, students got into groups and debated whether spatial computing will lead to a utopian or dystopian future for that aspect of society —  echoing recent debates regarding the advent and rise of ChatGPT.

Most students had very mixed feelings as to whether or not spatial computing would bring about utopia or dystopia.  

“With new technology, there’s new possibilities for good and bad,” said Clement Chan, a senior majoring in computer science and computer science games. “I’m thinking about ‘Black Mirror,’ how advanced technology can really go bad in the wrong hands or if someone hasn’t really thought about it too much.”

Shalin Shah, a graduate student studying computer engineering, computer science and electrical engineering, said they hope they could positively impact the development of spatial computing in their future.

“It’s going to be quite interesting to learn about [spatial computing],” Shah said. “But [I hope] from the learning that I will be able to bring the dystopian side and utopian together and have a world that is more towards the utopian side.” 

Moving forward, Agrawal envisions a system where all of the club’s members in a specific semester constitute their own cohort who will spend the semester gaining a “holistic, well-rounded view of the XR landscape.” Come next semester, those students will break into smaller groups that will each tackle a problem that is uniquely solvable with extended reality. Finally, come the end of the school year, all of the groups will present their work at the Trojan Reality Conference. 

“All of the projects come together [with] a big career fair, keynote speakers, it’ll be a big thing,” Agrawal said. “That’ll be the moment where USC recognizes, … XR is a big deal here. Long-term, we hope to put USC on the map with XR so that when you’re a senior in high school … USC pops into mind like, ‘Oh my god, this is the XR school.”  

This semester’s cohort is currently full, as Agrawal has capped the number of students at around 40 to 50, but he still encourages prospective members to stay connected. 

“If you’re interested in virtual or augmented reality, SpatialSC is a place where you can learn a lot, networking with people to get dope internships, and also form a thriving community with people who are very like-minded,” Agrawal said.