Invited Talk: Prof. Wolfgang Hürst

Prof. Wolfgang Hürst from Utrecht University, Netherlands gave a very interesting talk on multimodal (vision and haptic) interaction to SENS members.

=======
Date/time:
Nov 8 / 14:40-

Place:
System Kokyushitsu, Engineering Science Building, Osaka University

Title:
Multimodal virtual and augmented reality interaction experiences

Abstract:
Common virtual and augmented reality systems predominantly address our visual and auditory senses. Yet, our “real” reality provides us with a much richer experience stimulating also, for example, our olfactory and gustatory senses (smell and taste). The somatic sense (touch) plays a particular important role in our life. For example, it is sometimes considered even more relevant for survival than vision and sound.
In our research, we are therefore addressing how touch and tactile sensations can be used in virtual and augmented reality systems to either create more natural and realistic experiences or to extend existing ones by providing additional functionality via tactile senses. In this presentation, we will start with a short overview of tactile sensation and perception. We discuss different options where we see a potential for better, richer, or enhanced VR and AR experiences. Examples from our previous work on tactile VR will be shown, and our current and future plans for beneficial integration of touch in AR will be discussed.

Presenter info:
Wolfgang Hürst is an assistant professor at the Department of Information and Computing Sciences and a lecturer in the "Game and Media Technology" program at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. His research interests include virtual & augmented reality, mobile computing, and human-computer interaction, mostly with a focus on gaming and media interaction. Hürst has a PhD in computer science from the University of Freiburg, Germany, and a master in computer science from the University of Karlsruhe (TH), Germany. From January 1996 till March 1997 he was a visiting researcher at the Language Technologies Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. From March 2005 till October 2007 he worked as a teaching and research associate at the Faculty for Applied Sciences at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He is a member of IEEE Computer Society, ACM, ACM SIGMM, ACM SIGGRAPH, ACM EuroMM, and GI (Germany). He currently serves on the Associate Editor board of IEEE Transactions on Multimedia and is a member of the editorial board of Journal of Multimedia (Academy Publisher). Hürst co-chaired and served as TPC/PC member for various conferences, including local area chair for mobile computing at IEEE ICME 2014, IEEE ISM 2014, and ACM MM 2012, program co-chair of MMM 2014, and co-chair of 3AMIGAS 2009. His research has been published in various articles at high ranked scientific publications, including best or outstanding paper awards at SIGMAP 2006, ICCE 2004, ED-Media ’99, and winner of best design presentation at M&C 2007.

=======