“We’re at the dawn of the next computing paradigm, where everything around us will be augmented with digital information,” said Professor Dan Vogel, a founding member of the Cheriton School of Computer Science’s Human-Computer Interaction Group.
“Instead of an augmented reality viewable only through a phone, tablet or special glasses, multiple projector–camera units will place addressable pixels on objects and surfaces to create a spatial augmented reality.”
SAR will be a revolutionary change in how we access and use digital information, Vogel said. For example, in an operating room a delicate surgical procedure could be projected on the operating table — or the patient’s body — before the operation has begun.
“Or in a kitchen, the steps of a recipe could be displayed by a bowl, sink or stove according to the task. Cupboards with ingredients could be highlighted and oven controls could be projected anywhere that’s convenient to adjust,” Vogel explained.
“Congratulations to Dan for receiving an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement. This support will augment funds he secured earlier to build a $1.8 million facility to conduct research into interactive spatial augmented reality,” said Dan Brown, Director of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. “His innovative research program will support PhD and master’s students, along with multiple undergraduates in core and novel HCI research skills.”
The results of Vogel’s research are expected to contribute to a greater understanding of the potential for SAR interaction based on human needs and capabilities. Ultimately, it will allow the invention of new interaction techniques and methods to lead the way towards commercial applications.
In total, 10 University of Waterloo researchers, whose research is deemed on the verge of a breakthrough, have receive supplemental funding from NSERC in this round of funding.