The Green Health Research Center was established at the College of Bioresources and Agriculture of NTU in 2024. This Center serves as a hub for green health technology research, education and training, innovation and entrepreneurship as well as international collaboration. It houses four specialized laboratories, integrating AIoT and XR technologies to drive innovation in teaching and research related to nature-based healing.
1. Healthy Landscape Intelligence Lab: This lab features a psychophysiological monitoring system that integrates physiological data recorded using Apple Watch, real-time psychological questionnaires, GIS mapping, and AI image analysis systems. These technologies are used to identify environmental features that promote health through analysis of the physical and mental responses of individuals interacting with nature (Fig. 1).
2. Healing Landscape Planning Lab: This lab uses digital twin technology to simulate how different combinations of urban vegetation and building designs affect wind, temperature, air quality, and human health.
3. Landscape Environment Simulation Lab: Equipped with various XR devices, this lab utilizes computer-generated VR to create virtual healing gardens, green Tai Chi experiences, and virtual tourism activities to help hospitalized patients and elderly individuals with limited mobility enjoy nature virtually. The lab also integrates AR technology to develop products and services related to environmental education and food and agriculture education (Fig. 2).
4. Panoramic Theater Experience Lab: This space offers an immersive 360° nature viewing experience that allows multiple users to participate simultaneously without wearing headsets. Paired with smartwatch-based heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) monitoring, it provides accurate assessments of exercise performance (Fig. 3).
Since its establishment, the Green Health Research Center has engaged with academic and industrial representatives from a diverse range of countries—including France, Finland, the United States, Thailand, and South Korea—laying a strong foundation for sustained international cooperation in education and research.
Figure 1. Healthy Landscape Intelligence Lab (focus: physiological and psychological data analysis)
Figure 2. Landscape Environmental Simulation Lab (XR-based virtual healing experiences)
Figure 3. Panoramic Theater Experience Lab (immersive 360° nature engagement without headsets)