Henry Fuchs

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Immersive Integration of

Physical and Virtual Environments

We envision future work and play environments in which the user’s computing interface is more closely integrated with the physical surroundings than today’s conventional computer display screens and keyboards. We are working toward realizable versions of such environments, in which multiple video projectors and digital cameras enable every visible surface to be both measured in 3D and used for display. If the 3D surface positions were transmitted to a distant location, they may also enable distant collaborations to become more like working in adjacent offices connected by large windows.

Together with collaborators at several institutions, we at Chapel Hill have been working to bring these ideas to reality.  In one “telepresence” system, for example, depth maps are calculated from streams of video images from one location and the resulting 3D surface points are displayed to the user at the other location in full 3D, head-tracked stereo.

Among the applications we are pursuing for this telepresence technology, is advanced training for trauma surgeons by immersive replay of recorded procedures.  Other applications display onto physical objects, to allow more natural interaction with them – “painting” a dollhouse, for example.

More generally, we hope to demonstrate that the principal interface of a future computing environment need not be limited to a screen the size of one or two sheets of paper. Just as a useful physical environment is all around us, so too can the increasingly ubiquitous computing environment be all around us --integrated seamlessly with our physical surroundings.

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
8:30 am - 5:30 pm

School of Engineering and Applied Science

University of Pennsylvania

210 South 33rd Street

Berger Auditorium

Skirkanich Hall

GRASP Lab - Levine Hall 4th Floor

For more information regarding our speaker please visit:

http://www.cs.unc.edu/~fuchs/