Short Description
The infrastructure comprises technologies to develop and study remote work,
collaboration and teleoperation in general with the focus on providing the closest physical experience to
being physically present. It is unique in that it comprises complete solutions:
i) capture and digitalization of remote environments,
ii) immersive experience with extended sensory input and total freedom of motion,
iii) robotic interfaces for remote interaction and teleoperation.
This lab should allow experimentation with diverse technologies to plan deployments and
training for efficient remote work. It is intended to allow researchers to deploy new digital technologies focusing the remote exploration, planning and operation of equipment with sufficient spatial and overall sensory detail to be indistinguishable or even superior to being physically present.
Telepresence offers the possibility to carry out research on diverse fields: in computer science computer
vision, computer graphics, haptics, robotics, navigation and control. In psychology, the consequences of
immersion and presence, and the neural correlates of such experiences. All these technologies may
contribute to the digitalization and general operation in challenging environments, for example mining.
Mining engineering offers scenarios that go beyond the controlled experimental room. The expected
benefits are: i) possibility to recruit experts from anywhere to visit a locaiton, ii) the overall reduction of
hazardous situations to humans (enabling access to areas not accessible by humans), iii) reduction of mobility costs. All benefits depend on obtaining a sufficiently accurate perception (including spatial
perception) of the remote environment.
The requirements and benefits can be transferred to other, equally dynamic
environments such as an industry factory floor, or a first responder action.
Contact Person
Eduardo Veas
Research Services
Robot based environment exploration and monitoring.
Visualization of 3D environments in VR multiple applications (architecture, civil engineering, urban planning, design, automotive, mining, etc.).
Research design, usability studies, human factors studies, data analysis and reporting.
Motion capture for video production and games.
Motion capture for biomechanics studies.
Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure
The infrastructure is targetted at research groups primarily in the areas of Computer Science, Mining
Engineering, and Psychology, but it offers possibilities for numerous other areas of research.
- Digitalization of remote environments: using legged robots and drones to capture data in remote environments. Computer vision and machine learning methods for processing datasets obtained through robot sensing.
- eXtended Immersive experiences: visualization of 3D data, models, digital twins with enhanced sensory input and total freedom of motion. Using engines such as Unity or Unreal, we facilitate the deployment of fully immersive experiences, including full-body haptics, immersive VR and free locomotion by means of an omnideck.
- Robotic interfaces: a platform and interfaces for telepresence and teleoperation with robots.
General expertise tied to the infrastructure:
- Research design and performance of user studies for immersive technologies, haptics feedback, virtual reality, augmented reality, visual perception, visualization.
- Development of virtual content for immersive applications, such as virtual environments and avatars.
- Motion capture and physiological sensing. Full body motion capture complemented with comprehensive physiological sensing including: electromyography, electro cardiogram, eye-tracking among others. Motion capture realized with millimeter accuracy and suitable for applications of Film production, Gaming, as well as Biomechanics studies using Vicon software.
- Studies involving neural correlates in an MRI scanner while attending a 3D virtual environment.
With the realization of this lab infrastructure we expect to be in position to offer the following services / expertise:
- Mission planning for exploration and monitoring: plan a deployment for data acquisition of a remote environment, including the needed robot platforms, sensor systems, data processing techniques and VR interfaces for telepresence.
- Technology benchmarking: benchmarking new robot systems and sensor / data acquisition hardware and software.