Academic Research Labs
Advanced Man Machine Interface Laboratory (AMMI Lab)
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Description: The laboratory's research activity centers on the development of new man-machine interfaces that allow computer systems to enhance human abilities by adapting to their needs.Research Topics: TelePresence, Tele-Immersion, Collaborative Virtual Reality Environments (CVE), Scientific Visualization, Medical Training.
Projects: The Immersive Telepresence Room ANd Collaborative Environment (iTRAnCE), Virtualized Reality, Hapto-Visual-Audio-Virtual Environments (HAVE), Range Image Processing, Virtual Wind Tunnel, Spatial Navigation Studies, Image-based Modeling and Rendering with Dynamic Textures, The ANIMUS Project, Music Visualization, Three-Dimensional Gesture Recognition, Project CyberCell, The Global LAMBDA Visualization Facility, ...
Ecole Polytechnique's Virtual Reality Lab
Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Description: Ecole polytechnique de Montreal's research group in virtual reality gathers competences in computer science, computer graphics, mathematics, virtual reality and fluid mechanics. This group works in collaboration with researchers from different fields, from Polytechnique and elsewhere, in fluid mechanics, pharmaceutical chemistry, biomedical engineering, civil engineering, applied mathematics, manufacturing, injection moulding, combustion, structures, etc.Research Topics: Medical Training, CVE, Scientific Visualization, Design Review.
Projects: Collaborative Virtual Reality Spine Surgery Simulator (CVrS3), MolEdit, ...
Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL)
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Description: The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) is an interdisciplinary graduate research laboratory that combines art and computer science, specializing in advanced visualization and networking technologies. The laboratory is a joint effort of UIC's College of Engineering and The School of Art & Design representing the oldest formal collaboration between engineering and art in the country, offering graduate degrees in electronic visualization (MFA, MS, PhD). Funded research projects include: distributed computing/visualization, collaborative software, the development of viable, scalable, deployable stereo displays and management of next-generation advanced networking initiatives.Research Topics: Tele-Immersion, Networking, Virtual Reality Devices, Immersive Environments, Learning Environments, Scientific Visualization, CVE, VR Development Tools, VR Art.
Projects: The CAVE® Virtual Reality Theater, CAVERNsoft G2, EMERGE, Virtual Harlem Project, Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctiC Explorer (ENDURANCE), Towards Lifelike Computer Interfaces that Learn, OptiStore, Virtual Driving Simulator, Solar Video Visualization for the NASA/NRL STEREO Satellite Mission, SAGE Display Controller, ...
Human Interface Technology Lab (HITLab)
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Description: The Human Interface Technology Lab (HITLab) is a multi-disciplinary research and development lab whose work centers around human interface technology. Lab researchers represent a wide range of departments from across the University of Washington campus, including engineering, medicine, education, social sciences, architecture and the design arts.Research Topics: Cognition, Collaborative Environments, Education, Hardware, Interfaces, Medical, VR Effects.
Projects: Burn Pain Control with VR, fMRI Research on Virtual Reality Analgesia, VR Therapy for Spider Phobia, VR Treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Water-Friendly Virtual Reality, PARVAC, Shared Space, Virtual Playground, GaS Works, Learning in Virtual Environments, Virtual Calakmul, Virtual Puget Sound, Virtual Scalable Basin, Engineering Study of an Endoscope Design, Interactive VRD, Low Vision Aid, Micro-optical fabrication of a fiber scanning system, True 3D Displays, Virtual Retinal Display, VRD Emulator, Wearable Low Vision Aid, Augmented Tangible Molecular Models, HI-SPACE, Multimodal Interfaces, 3D Microscopy for Cancer Screening, Expert Surgical Assistant, Fast Finite Element Modeling for Surgical Simulation, Parkinson's Project, Virtual Prototyping of Medical Robotic Interfaces, Motion Sickness.
MIRALab
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Description: MIRALab was founded in 1989 by Professor Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann. She chairs around 30 researchers coming from as many different fields as Computer Science, Mathematics, Medicine, Telecommunications, Architecture, Fashion Design, Cognitive Science, Haptics, Augmented Reality, etc. This truly interdisciplinary group works in the field of Computer Graphics, Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds. Since 1992, MIRALab has participated in more than 45 European Projects. International conferences such as CASA and CGI are often organized in Switzerland by MIRALab. Actually, Prof. Nadia Magnenat-Thalmann leads 3 ongoing European Research Projects: INTERMEDIA NoE, HAPTEX and 3D ANATOMICAL HUMAN, a Marie Curie Research Training Network. Moreover, MIRALab produces displays for museums, galleries, such as fashion shows or cyberdances with virtual models and clothes.Research Topics: Virtual Cloning, Facial Animation, Graphics Standardisation, Hair Simulation, Medical, Mixed Realities, Modelling techniques, Motion Capture, Body Animation and Control, CVE, Personality and Emotion Simulation, Real-time Animation, Visualization and Deformation, Virtual Clothing, Virtual Heritage, Web3D.
Projects: 3DAH, AIM@Shape, CADPIPE, CATCH, CO-ME, ENACTIVE, EPOCH, FNRS2006, FRANCOPHONIE, HAPTEX, HUMAINE, INDIGO, INTERMEDIA, INTUITION, LEAPFROG, OPENDANCE, Understanding3D, ...
TACHI Laboratory
University of Tokyo, Japan
Description: Tachi Lab. is a leading laboratory in Virtual Reality and Telexistence.Research Topics: Telexistence, Teleoperation, Immersive Autostereoscopic Displays, Immersive Displays, Tactile and Haptic Systems, Augmented Reality, Robotic User Interface, Retro-reflective Projection Technology, Head Mounted Projectors, Human Interfaces.
Projects: Mutual Telexistence robot “TELESAR 2”, TWISTER, Optical Camouflage, Tele-Existence Master-Slave System, Tactile Communication System, GelForce, Seelinder, Fibratus Tactile Sensor, ...
Virtual Reality Application Center (VRAC)
Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
Description: Their research centers around developing computer interfaces that integrate virtual environments, wireless networking, pervasive computing and third generation user interface devices to amplify the creativity and productivity of people.Research Topics: Virtual Environments, Wireless Networking, Pervasive Computing, Third Generation User Interfaces, Teleoperation, Virtual Engineering and Design, Scientific Visualization, VR Development Tools.
Projects: VR Juggler, OpenSG, VE Suite, NIST MEP, Kansei Evaluation Methodology, Product, and Packaging Design for Tostitos Brand…, Virtual Teleoperation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Using Virtual Engineering Tools to Create an Information Dashboard for Portfolio Management, Mapping Sound to 3-D Virtual Materials: a real-time touch sensitive instrument for Virtual Engineering and Electroacoustic Music, Advanced Systems Design Suite, NSF REU - Modeling 3D Geologic Structures in a Multi-sensory (touch and sound), Interactive Visualization and Analysis of Large Scale Graphs for Biological Network Modeling, Modeling 3D Geologic Structures in a Multi-sensory (Touch and Sound) Virtual Environment, Immersive Combine Simulator, ...
Virtual Reality Laboratory
University at Buffalo, New York, USA
Description: The Virtual Reality Laboratory's students and faculty are pioneering the use of VR technology in areas such as surgery, remote robotic control, volcanic simulation and factory design. The faculty involved in their projects pool their expertise from fields as diverse as mathematics, geology, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering and medical sciences. With their unique experience, industry partners and computational resources, the lab is answering the technological challenges of today with VR solutions.Research Topics: Haptic Device Design, Haptics Input/Output, Virtual Reality for Medicine, Cultural Heritage Reconstruction, Scientific Information/Data Visualization, Industrial Design & Manufacturing, Intelligent Vehicle.
Projects: HAPSTICK, Fingertip Digitizer, Touch-based Interactive NURBS Modeler, ModelGlove, Distributed Data Fusion (DDF) Testbed : Visualization and Simulation Support, Natural or Man-made Post-disaster Visualization, Efficient Visualization of Geo-Physical Mass Flow Simulations, Image Guided Surgery in Neuro-Endovascular Procedures, The Haptic Kymograph, Physically-Based Modeling Through A Dynamic Atomic Unit Approach For Haptic Rendering, ...
Virtual Reality Research Group
University of Oxford, England
Description: The aim of their research is to discover how the visual system represents a 3D scene. They are particularly interested in how this is done when an observer moves around. In this case, there is a lot of information from motion parallax and binocular disparity that must be 'put together' somehow in the brain to yield a coherent, stable representation of the scene. The main advantage of using immersive virtual reality is that the observer can explore their environment freely, while appropriate images are generated for each eye just as if they were viewing a real scene. Until now, most experiments on 3D vision have required the subject to sit with their head fixed. Only recently has it become feasible to carry out similar experiments in freely-moving observers. We need to do this if we are to find out how people represent the 3D world under normal, unrestrained conditions.Research Topics: Computer Vision, Photogrammetry, 3d Vision, 3d Perception, Visual Psychophysics.
Projects: Expanding room, Object movement yoked to observer movement, Quantifying errors in the head tracker, ...