Bio: Dr. Oliver Staadt is a full professor of Computer Science and Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Rostock. He received his MSc in Computer Science from TU Darmstadt and his PhD from ETH Zurich. Prior to his appointment in Rostock, he served as Assistant Professor at the University of California, Davis, where he also directed the Virtual Reality Laboratory. His research focuses on computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality, telepresence, visualization, and multiresolution analysis. Dr. Staadt has been actively involved in the international research community, serving on numerous program committees and in editorial roles, including associate editor positions for IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), Computers & Graphics, Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds, and currently Frontiers in Virtual Reality. He has held key leadership roles in major conferences such as Eurographics, IEEE VR, ACM VRST, and 3DPVT. Dr. Staadt is a Fellow of the Eurographics Association and a member of ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH, and the IEEE Computer Society.
Speech Title: From Telepresence to Perception-Driven XR: Building Immersive Systems Around Human Limits
Abstract: Virtual and augmented reality are often associated with technological progress: higher display resolution, lower latency, more accurate tracking, richer 3D reconstruction, and increasingly realistic rendering. Yet, after several decades of research in immersive systems, we argue that the decisive challenges are not only technical. Successful XR systems must also be designed around human limits: what users can perceive, control, tolerate, and understand. In this talk, we will explore this perspective through three stages of our research. We will revisit early work on telepresence and 3D video, discuss augmented reality studies under altered-gravity conditions, and present recent advances in foveated rendering. Although these topics span more than two decades of XR research, they are connected by a common goal: understanding how immersive systems can be adapted to the capabilities and limitations of their users. Together, these examples point toward a broader direction for future XR systems. Rather than attempting to reproduce reality uniformly and exhaustively, immersive systems should adapt to the perceptual, motor, and cognitive characteristics of their users. The talk will show how human limits can become design opportunities for the next generation of immersive technologies.
Bio: Anthony Steed is Head of the Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics group in the Department of Computer Science at University College London. He has 30 years of experience in developing effective immersive experiences. While his early work focussed on the engineering of displays and software, more recently it has focussed on user engagement in and content production for collaborative and telepresence scenarios. He received the IEEE VGTC’s 2016 Virtual Reality Technical Achievement Award. He has been involved in a variety of knowledge transfer activities, including five start-up companies.
Speech Title: What Can Generative AI do for Social XR?
Abstract: Generative artificial intelligence is making waves across the media production industry. It is starting to have impact on spatial environment generation, though this is through significant engineering of supporting production tools because the raw data is lacking or is not amenable to data-centric methods. In this talk we will focus on our Ubiq-Genie tool and discuss how it facilitates the exploration of emerging gen-AI models. Ubiq-Genie is a toolkit and system that integrates with distributed sessions supports by our Ubiq toolkit. Ubiq is an open-source collaborative system that supports a wide range of virtual reality and augmented reality devices. Ubiq-Genie can ingest audio, video and other channels from multiple participants and create and push content. It centralises generation of content, off-loading it from the client devices. We will show some prototype applications, such as collaborative texture generation and adaptive generative music and demonstrate how unified AI pipelines can significantly enhance immersion and social functionality in virtual spaces.
Bio: Marnix van Gisbergen is professor ‘Digital Media Concepts’ andR&D manager at Breda University of applied sciences (Academy of AI, Games and Media). The main R&D goal in his professorship is to help brands to realize an immersive media (VR, AR, XR) strategy and investigate the effect of realism of XR and VH on experience and behaviour. With an international team of media researchers, game developers and students, Marnix over 40 national and international funded projects have been acquired, created and tested around immersive media projects with a total value over €15M. This includes projects for and with organizations such as Samsung, United Nations, PSV, Warner Music, DPG Media, 4DR Production, Vodafone Ziggo and Banijay. This has led to over 300 output deliverables and Industry magazines and key-notes, as well as digital media products ranging from VR Supermarkets, VR museums, VR/AR entertainment products, and Virtual Human applications for games, films, advertising, news, branding, HR, sports and dance experiences.
Bio: Guillaume Moreau obtained his PhD in Computer Science, specializing in interactive simulation, from the University of Rennes 1 in 1998. He earned his Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR, accreditation as a PhD advisor) in 2009 from the University of Nantes.
After serving as a research fellow at Mines ParisTech for three years, he joined École Centrale de Nantes in 2002, first as an associate professor and later as a full professor in computer science. Among his various responsibilities, he served as Dean of Studies from 2016 to 2020. In 2020, he moved to IMT Atlantique, where he currently holds the position of Dean of Research and Innovation.
His research focuses on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Initially, he developed techniques and algorithms for constructing AR/VR environments and evaluating their performance. His work later shifted to a more specific focus on human perception in virtual and augmented environments.
He maintains active collaborations with INRIA Rennes and Centrale Nantes in France, as well as international partnerships with the University of Adelaide (Australia) and Keio University (Japan). He has contributed to multiple projects aimed at integrating VR/AR technologies into the manufacturing industry. Additionally, he has served on the steering committee of IEEE ISMAR, the premier conference in VR/AR, and as a member of the International Advisory Council of Meta Reality Labs.
Speech Title: Mixed Reality: From the Early Days to Remaining Challenges
Abstract: Who has never dreamt of adding virtual content to real-world objects? For example, to make it easier to perform complex or obfuscated procedures, such as mounting or dismounting car parts? What if a surgeon could visualize internal organs while operating, thereby avoiding mistakes? Or, in a more provocative scenario, what if you could automatically recognize the people in front of you and modify their appearance in real time?
Since the early demos in the 1970s, significant progress has been made, yet AR/MR still has not become a part of most people’s daily lives. This is for good reason: the challenges are technical, physical, and ethical—especially given the current convergence between MR and AI.
In this talk, we will review the remaining challenges that researchers must still address, such as the form factor of displays, relocalization and tracking issues, rendering challenges, interaction and collaboration limitations, as well as perception problems. We will conclude by discussing the ethical issues that arise from the ability to display additional information at anytime and anywhere.