The newly opened Human-Centered Computing (HCC) Labs at TU Graz is one of the most modern research facilities in Europe. Various technologies are housed in one research laboratory, which can be combined for interlinked research in a wide range of disciplines in order to advance autonomous driving, improve brain-computer interfaces or combine virtual worlds of the highest quality with artificial intelligence and robotics. For example, VR-controlled telepresence using robots in real time will make it possible to carry out work remotely or explore dangerous areas.

Eduardo Veas, Head of Laboratory at the Institute of Interactive Systems and Data Science at TU Graz, reports: "Numerous fields of research and technologies converge here: Visualization, user interfaces, mixed reality, game design and AI such as image recognition and image processing, robotics or autonomous driving. In our Human-Centered Computing Labs, we have the infrastructure to bring all these disciplines together."

Six laboratories are available

The Human-Centered Computing Labs at TU Graz are divided into six labs dedicated to different aspects of research. These include:

The Immersive Computing Lab: a lab that is fully equipped with motion-capturing technology. This allows people and machines such as drones or robots to be captured throughout the room and their avatars to be transferred into digital environments. The lab is also a test room for various robots as well as VR and AR applications. In order to be able to move freely in the virtual spaces, there is a movable floor on which users can walk in all directions without moving forward in the real space.
The Vehicle-Human Interaction Lab contains modern racing simulators that are synchronized with sensors to record physiological data. This makes it possible to test external influences on drivers as well as reactions to stress while driving.
Autonomous driving is also researched here.
The Game Experience Lab is dedicated to game design, innovative teaching and learning methods and new ways of presenting and communicating research content. A lot of work is done here with virtual reality, but the focus is also on topics such as data collection and its user-friendly preparation for further analysis or application.
In the Wearable Technology and Interface Fabrication Lab, students learn how to build input and control devices such as data gloves or data glasses themselves. New applications can be tested in the Usability Lab, which consists of two identical test rooms with a control room in between, from which both test rooms can be observed through one-way mirrors. Finally, there is the Classroom Lab for theoretical work and teaching. This research area is anchored in the Field of Expertise "Information, Communication & Computing", one of five scientific areas of strength at TU Graz.

Ongoing project: Robot works in the tunnel

Eduardo Veas is currently experiencing just how valuable this local merging of different disciplines is in a project with the University of Leoben, in which a robot is exploring a mine tunnel using numerous cameras and sensors. It is not only supposed to record the surroundings and display them in virtual reality, but also detect whether there are gases in the tunnel before people enter it. Eduardo Veas' team is researching the visualization of the reconstructed sensor data and the representation of the environment as well as the interaction via VR.