BioreactAR
An AR learning simulation for Meta Quest 3 that places an industrial 30L bioreactor into a student's physical space, letting them explore its components and processes in context.
Overview
BioreactAR is an interactive AR learning simulation for Meta Quest 3 built in Unity 6. Using passthrough, a detailed 3D model of an industrial 30L bioreactor is placed directly into a student’s physical environment at full scale. Students can walk around the system, select individual components, and surface contextual information through a spatial UI — effectively bringing a piece of industrial lab equipment into any classroom or workspace.
The project is a commission currently in active development, designed to grow into a full learning module covering both the physical components of the bioreactor and the biological and chemical processes it supports.
Concept and Approach
The core premise was that scale and physical context matter for understanding industrial equipment. A diagram or video cannot communicate what it feels like to stand next to a 30L bioreactor — passthrough AR on Quest 3 lets the simulation occupy real space at real scale, which changes how a student relates to the object.
The interaction model is built around component-level exploration: students select parts of the model to surface information specific to that component. This keeps learning anchored to the physical object rather than pulling attention into a separate UI space. The spatial UI is designed to stay readable across the range of distances and angles a student might view from, and to feel attached to the model rather than floating independently.
Keeping the digital model visually grounded in the real environment required careful material work — calibrating Unity materials and lighting so the AR model reads as occupying the same physical space rather than sitting on top of it.
Development
Led all technical development and experience design from initial build through handoff. Documentation shown is from the development build; content population is ongoing.
- Maya model cleanup and optimization for real-time AR rendering
- Material authoring in Unity calibrated to real-world passthrough lighting
- AR passthrough implementation for Meta Quest 3 in Unity 6
- Component selection interaction and UI state management
- Spatial UI design and implementation
- Overall experience architecture and interaction model
Links
Role
Technical Lead · Experience Design · AR Development (Unity 6 + Quest 3) · Spatial UI Design · 3D Asset Pipeline (Maya → Unity)
Video
BioreactAR — Development Build