LIST mixed reality lab draws the University of Lorraine’s attention

On 19 December 2018, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) welcomed a delegation from the University of Lorraine in its premises in Belvaux. LIST’s research team in environmental informatics represented by Maël Cornil has welcomed a group of students, PhDs and teachers from the Computer Human Interaction (HCI) Master studies.

The objective of this visit was to present LIST’s mixed reality lab as well as demos of technologies developed at the Institute in the framework of its “Training Augmented Reality Generalised Environment Toolkit” (TARGET) H2020 project. TARGET can be encapsulated in one sentence, namely, “Customizable and low cost training for Security Critical Agents using augmented and virtual reality technologies”. The project has developed the use of Augmented and Virtual Reality (AVR) and serious gaming techniques to train and assess Security Critical Agents (SCA), including police, fire, emergency medical services, counter terrorism units, border guards and critical infrastructure operators.

Maël Cornil’s presentation has drawn the students’ attention as they study the development of high-level interfaces with a focus on the technologies of today and tomorrow: data visualization, tangible interfaces, augmented reality, etc. Two training contents that were developped within TARGET has been demonstrated: one involving the use of Hololens - a Simulated dosimeter and Virtual Radiation sources - and one involving the use of HTC Vive where the user is immersed in a motorway where car crashes involving lots of vehicles just happened. Finally, LIST researchers have presented another training content where police officers can use Hololens and guns that can be tracked with an indoor positioning system.

The visit of University fellows included a meeting between the teachers and LIST researchers to brainstorm on possibilities for collaboration. As explained by Cornil: “The expertise in our research team in Mixed Reality, Data Mining, Visualisation and HCI can work in symbiosis with expertise from the people of the university in Visualisation and HCI”. At LIST, an extensive research and development has resulted in a range of innovative ICT tools that are designed to help the public, practitioners and scientists tackle today’s environmental challenges.

> For any further information about this topic, please contact Maël Cornil via email.