Short Description
The Mixed Reality Laboratory of TU Wien (MR Lab) is an innovative research and teaching facility that enables versatile, high-quality, interdisciplinary cutting-edge research and innovative teaching with state-of-the-art infrastructure in the field of mixed reality and all areas of application.
The main functionality of MRLab is to provide a large walkable virtual environment with high-quality visual, auditory, and haptic stimuli. For this purpose, the MRLab will contain a 3D CAVE system that surrounds a user with four high-resolution LED walls with 3D stereo rendering. Additionally, a high-precision tracking system in MRLab ensures interactivity of VR visualizations.
The laboratory will also contain a 192-channel audio system to surround a user with spatial sound. Finally, numerous VR/AR headsets will be available for researchers and students. The MRLab serves as a high-quality research and teaching facility in computer science, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, architecture, spatial planning, physiotherapy, biology, and acoustics.
Contact Person
Hannes Kaufmann
Research Services
The MR Laboratory will offer possibility to conduct research and teaching with the available hardware including visualization on 3D LED CAVE system, many-channel audio system, VR and AR headsets, SPOT robot and other equipment. Currently, no services are provided because the laboratory is under construction.
Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure
The main goal of the project is the construction of a Mixed Reality (MR) laboratory that will enable carrying out high-quality, interdisciplinary cutting-edge research, innovative teaching as well as knowledge transfer and communication ("third mission") with the most modern infrastructure in the field of mixed reality and all application areas.
The MR Lab facility aims at providing the following basic functionality for research purposes by all partner institutions involved and the researchers from the 8 faculties involved at the TU Wien:
1. Precise localization (tracking) of several people and objects in a large room (>100m², absolute measurement accuracy <1 mm)
2. High-quality visualization on different displays (2D and 3D) for MR research and visualization of research results and teaching
3. Spatial sound
4. Opportunity to conduct teaching (up to 30 people).
5. Possibility of flexibly dividing the room into 2-3 parts (if necessary, processing several research projects in parallel).
The methodology of the future research in MR laboratory will include a vast amount of possible audio-visual experiments in different fields. Research studies can include displaying any type of 3D/4D (with time) content in a visual or an auditory fashion and interaction of users with this content. The research participants will be able to visit digital worlds in an immersive setup while natural walking locomotion will lead to the increased sense of presence. Additionally, the lab equipment will include Spot robot that will enable research in autonomous exploration, scanning and 3D reconstruction.