Real World Recognition For Research In Augmented Reality And Empathic Computing
Professor Mark Billingshurst of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) has been inducted into the SIGCHI Academy of the ACM SIGCHI, which he describes as being “the equivalent of being awarded an Oscar for research in human computer interfaces”.
Professor Mark Billingshurst
of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) has been
inducted into the SIGCHI Academy of the ACM SIGCHI, which he
describes as being “the equivalent of being awarded an
Oscar for research in human computer
interfaces”.
SIGCHI is the largest international
society for professionals, academics and students who are
interested in human-computer interaction (HCI). It is part
of the Association for Computing Machinery which has 100,000
members.
The SIGCHI Academy is an honorary group of
individuals who have made substantial contributions to the
field of human-computer interaction whose efforts have
shaped the disciplines and/or industry and led the research
and/or innovation in human-computer interaction. Past
awardees include Douglas Engelbart who is credited with
inventing the computer mouse, and Joy Mountford who
established the first interface research group at
Apple.
Dr Billinghurst is only the second New Zealander
to have received this award out of 160 people inducted into
the Academy since 2002. He is well known and a multi-award
winner for his research in Augmented Reality (AR) and
especially the use of AR for enhancing face to face and
remote collaboration and for AR interface design. He has
published more research papers in AR than any other academic
globally.
Dr Billinghurst leads the Empathic Computing
Lab (ECL) at the ABI and at the University of South
Australia, which has a mission to develop systems that
enable people to better understand one another, and develop
empathy, especially in remote collaboration.
An example
of research the group has done is the Empathy Glasses, an AR
headset which has the capacity to relay emotional and
physiological information about the wearer, such as their
gaze, facial expression, and heart rate, to a remote
collaborator.
“With the Empathy Glasses, we
wanted to share the cues people use in face-to-face
conversation, such as gesture or eye-gaze, with a remote
partner. Using our technology, you feel as though you’re
standing inside the body of the person wearing the
headset… and see through their eyes to help them complete
a task. In trials of the system, we’ve found people
experience a stronger sense of collaboration and
communication.”
More recent research includes work on
measuring brain activity in collaborative settings, and how
it can synchronise for people working together. His group is
also working on exploring how sharing gaze and gesture can
improve collaboration in AR and Virtual Reality (VR), how to
use 360-degree video for shared virtual tours of real
locations, and how computers can reliably recognise human
emotions and many other aspects of AR and VR.
Overall,
Professor Billinghurst’s work aims to overcome some of the
limitations of current video conferencing and enable
radically new types of collaboration. “This is a very hot
topic right now with companies such as Meta, Microsoft and
others developing social AR and VR metaverse
technologies,” he says.
This award demonstrates how
highly researchers in the field value his work and recognise
its impact. “It is rewarding to be acknowledged by my
peers working in this field with this award,” he
says.