Dive In and See with Sound!

Created by a team out of the Interactive Media program at the University of Miami, Echo Earth Experience (EEE) is a virtual reality (VR) experience, which simulates how animals use echolocation to navigate, for example marine mammals underwater. In this VR first person swimmer, players take on the role of a baby beluga whale that is immersed in the deep blue Arctic and is learning to use its senses to search for food. The goal is to find and eat as many fish and octopi as possible before time runs out. To do so, invoke your echolocation abilities by making sounds (using a handheld controller) to ideally generate an echo that will help you determine the direction of these food sources.

Exhibitions and Showcases

2017 ACCelerate Festival

Smithsonian National Museum of American History, October 2017

Echo Earth was selected as one of 48 projects for exhibition at the 2017 ACCelerate Creativity and Innovation Festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., from October 13-15, 2017. The festival had over 10,000 visitors each day, thousands of which got to experience Echo Earth first hand. Participants spanned many ages, including multi-generational families.

Special thanks to Samsung for their generous sponsorship of hardware, including numerous Samsung Gear VR sets and Smart TVs, during the festival.

The festival is a celebration of creative exploration and research happening across the ACC at the nexus of science, engineering, arts and design (SEAD). It is an opportunity for all ACC schools to showcase their work to each other, potential ACC students and their parents, alumni, companies, legislators, and invited guests from the nation’s capital.

Smithsonian Magazine highlighted Echo Earth in its "These Collegiate Innovators Are at the Vanguard of Technology and Art" article summarizing the weekend festivites.

Echo Earth at Smithsonian
Echo Earth at Smithsonian
Echo Earth at Smithsonian
Echo Earth at Smithsonian
Echo Earth at Smithsonian
Echo Earth at Smithsonian
Echo Earth at Smithsonian

LATE at Frost Science

Frost Science Museum, August 2017

In August 2017, hundreds of Frost Science Museum visitors attended the LATE at Frost Science: SEEING 003 event and experienced an early version of Echo Earth. For many it was their first time experiencing VR, and we saw younger visitors were very successful at navigating and devouring fish!

EEE at Frost Science
EEE at Frost Science
EEE at Frost Science

Global Game Jam

University of Miami jam site, January 2017

GGJ
VR
Echo Earth team
Echo Earth team
Echo Earth team
Echo Earth team

About Echo Earth Experience

Echo Earth Experience was originally conceived and created during the 2017 Global Game Jam (GGJ) at the University of Miami jam site by a team of University of Miami faculty and students and a Miami local. EEE was very much inspired by the 2017 GGJ theme of Waves bringing together both sound and water waves in an interactive experience. Witness some of our 48-hour game jam journey here.

EEE was made with Unity and originally for Samsung Gear VR.

University of Miami Interactive Media programMade with UnitySamsung Gear VR powered by Oculus
EEE Team

Echo Earth Team

Special thanks to Clay Ewing, Kim Grinfeder, Hilary Yip, and Robbie Silverberg.

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