Serious Games and Immersive Technologies<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Hui Yang, Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Towards Smart Manufacturing Metaverse via Digital Twinning in Extended Reality<\/a>. Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering. [Link<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rumena Begum, Nour Hamado, Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Hui Yang, Jason Saleem, Marci DeCaro, Karen Murphy. Collaborative Virtual Learning Factory for Advanced Manufacturing: Investigating User Experience and Team Dynamic<\/a>. Manufacturing Letters<\/em>, vol 46, 2025, p128-132.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rumena Begum, Faisal Aqlan, Marci Decaro, Hui Yang, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Jason Saleem, P. Karen Murphy. Exploring Human-Human Teaming and Human-Machine Interaction in a Collaborative Virtual Learning Factory<\/a>. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition (ASEE 2025) Proceedings<\/em>, Montreal, Canada, June, 2025. [Link<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Naznin Sharmin<\/strong> Shishir<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Is the Jedi Force Pull Method Effective? Evaluating Eye-Tracked Object Grabbing in VR<\/a>. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG 2025)<\/em>, Graz, Austria, April, 2025. [Link<\/a>] Acceptance Rate: 48%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Farhan Aslam<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Voice-Augmented Virtual Reality Interface for Serious Games<\/a>. Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Games (CoG)<\/em>, Milan, Italy, August, 2024. [Link<\/a>] [BibTeX<\/a>] Acceptance Rate: 41.1%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Haedong Kim, Tyler Hartleb<\/strong>, Khalid Bello, Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Hui Yang. Behavioral Modeling of Collaborative Problem Solving in Multiplayer Virtual Reality Manufacturing Simulation Games<\/a>. Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering<\/em>. 2023. [Link<\/a>] [BibTeX<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Tyler Hartleb<\/strong>, Haedong Kim, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Faisal Aqlan, Hui Yang. Exploring Magic Interactions for Collaboration in Virtual Reality Learning Factory<\/a>. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition (ASEE 2023) Proceedings<\/em><\/em>, Baltimore, USA, June, 2023. [Link<\/a>] [BibTeX<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rui Zhu, Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Hui Yang. Sensor-based Modeling of Problem-Solving in Virtual Reality Manufacturing Systems<\/a>. Expert Systems with Applications<\/em>, vol 201, p. 117220, 2022. [Link<\/a>] [BibTeX<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Assessment of Collaborative Problem Solving in Engineering Students Through Hands-On Simulations<\/a>. IEEE Transactions on Education<\/em>, 65:1, February, 2022, p9-17. [Link<\/a>] [BibTeX<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rui Zhu, Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Hui Yang. Eye-Track Modeling of Problem-Solving in Virtual Manufacturing Environments<\/a>. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition (ASEE 2021)<\/em><\/em> Proceedings<\/em>, virtual, July, 2021. [Link<\/a>] [BibTeX<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Artificial Intelligence<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Mahdi Farrokhimaleki<\/strong>, Parsa Rahmati<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. From Unstable to Playable: Stabilizing Angry Birds Levels via Object Segmentation<\/a>. Proceedings of the Twenty-First AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE-25)<\/em>, Edmonton, Canada, November, 2025, p227-236. [Link<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Kimiya Saadat<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Enhancing Two-Player Performance Through Single-Player Knowledge Transfer: An Empirical Study on Atari 2600 Games<\/a>. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE-24)<\/em>, Lexington, USA, November, 2024. [Link<\/a>] Acceptance Rate: 26.5%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Mahdi Farrokhimaleki<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Procedural Content Generation in Games: A Survey with Insights on Emerging LLM Integration<\/a>. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE-24)<\/em>, Lexington, USA, November, 2024. [Link<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Yiwei Zhang<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Enhancing MCTS with Convolutional Autoencoder and Linear Approximator in XCOM-Inspired Environments<\/a>. Proceedings of the Tenth AIIDE Workshop on Experimental Artificial Intelligence in Games (EXAG)<\/em>, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, October, 2023. [Link<\/a>] [BibTeX<\/a>] Acceptance Rate: 57%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Kimiya Saadat<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Exploring Adaptive MCTS with TD Learning in miniXCOM<\/a>. Proceedings of the Ninth AIIDE Workshop on Experimental Artificial Intelligence in Game<\/em>s (EXAG)<\/em>, Pomona, California, USA, October, 2022. [Link<\/a>] [BibTeX<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Extended Abstracts<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Matthew McConnell<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. A Demonstration of Pathfinding-Based Puzzle Generation with Adaptive Difficulty<\/a>. Proceedings of the Twenty-First AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE-25), Edmonton, Canada, November, 2025, p396-398. [Link<\/a>] [Video Demo<\/a>]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Hui Yang, Sreekanth Ramakrishnan. A Virtual Learning Factory for Advanced Manufacturing<\/a>. Proceedings of the 2020 Winter Simulation Conference<\/em>, virtual, December, 2020. [Link<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Past Publications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
- Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Hui Yang, Sreekanth Ramakrishnan. A Virtual Learning Factory for Advanced Manufacturing<\/a>. Proceedings of the 2020 Winter Simulation Conference<\/em>, virtual, December, 2020. [Link<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
- Kimiya Saadat<\/strong>, Richard Zhao<\/strong>. Enhancing Two-Player Performance Through Single-Player Knowledge Transfer: An Empirical Study on Atari 2600 Games<\/a>. Proceedings of the Twentieth AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE-24)<\/em>, Lexington, USA, November, 2024. [Link<\/a>] Acceptance Rate: 26.5%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rumena Begum, Nour Hamado, Faisal Aqlan, Richard Zhao<\/strong>, Hui Yang, Jason Saleem, Marci DeCaro, Karen Murphy. Collaborative Virtual Learning Factory for Advanced Manufacturing: Investigating User Experience and Team Dynamic<\/a>. Manufacturing Letters<\/em>, vol 46, 2025, p128-132.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
![\"Serious](\"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/serious-games\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/136\/2023\/05\/lab.png\")
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