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AR / VR / XR

Augmented Reality (AR) / Virtual Reality (VR) / Extended Reality (XR)


Extended Reality (XR) technologies represent a paradigm shift in computing, enabling users to interact with the digital world seamlessly and effortlessly. HCII's research is at the forefront of this interdisciplinary area, and leading to advances in understanding and modeling human behavior when interacting with XR, creating novel multi modal interactive devices and sensors, adaptive XR systems, and leveraging the technology for applications such as productivity, healthcare, manufacturing, or entertainment. 


We work closely with campus-wide initiatives such as the CMU Extended Reality Technology Center (XRTC), the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), and the Center for Transformational Play (CTP).

 

Students who want to learn more about this HCI research area might be interested in the following CMU courses and opportunities:


 

  • 3 pane illustration

    Auptimize

    PROJECT

    Spatial audio in Extended Reality (XR) provides users with better awareness of where virtual elements are place...

  • A man sits in a wheelchair with his arms out to the side. Insets zoom in on sensors on both wrists, his hat and the back of his chair.

    Virtually Accessible

    NEWS

    When Atieh Taheri first donned a virtual reality headset and started walking around a virtual world, her experience didn't match what she ...

  • A man with dark hair wears a virtual reality headset and touches his palm, which is superimposed with icons for popular smartphone apps.

    Future AR/VR Controllers Could Be the Palm of Your Hand

    NEWS

    The new generation of augmented and virtual reality controllers may not just fit in the palm of your hand. They could be the palm of your ...

  • close up of scene reconstruction, data annotation and data summary elements

    MineXR

    PROJECT

    Extended Reality (XR) interfaces offer engaging user experiences, but their effective design requir...

  • CHI 2024 logo with the theme Surfing the World May 11-16, 2024

    CMU at CHI 2024

    NEWS

    Researchers from the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) and several other Carnegie Mellon University schools and disciplines cont...

  • Vivian facilitating a demo at UIST 2023. [This image is from the official ACM UIST photo album]

    HCII at UIST 2023

    NEWS

    The 2023 ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) was held in San Francisco, California from October 29 to November ...

  • Virtual, augmented and other extended reality technologies could transform health care, education, entertainment, communication and more. CMU has launched its Extended Reality Technology Center (XRTC) to bring together researchers, industry and consumers to maximize the field's potential.

    Carnegie Mellon University's XRTC Will Drive Research into VR, AR Innovations

    NEWS

    Virtual, augmented and other extended reality technologies present the possibility to transform health care, education, entertainment, com...

  • Scenario of a user working with the RealityReplay system with side by side views of the environment with and without RealityReplay

    RealityReplay

    PROJECT

    Humans easily miss events in their surroundings due to limited short-term memory and field of view. This happens, for example, while watching an instructo...

  • HCII faculty member Chris Harrison earned the UIST Lasting Impact Award for his 2011 work on OmniTouch, a wearable system that turns everyday surfaces into an interactive screen.

    Harrison Earns Lasting Impact Award for Turning Everyday Surfaces Into Touch Screens

    NEWS

    Good technology takes time to get right. When widespread use of touch screens skyrocketed around 2007, for example, the research had been ...

  • A grid of six images showing different VR environments (street, museum, supermarket) and different types of navigation instructions (arrows on ground, avatar, call outs).

    User Preference for Navigation Instructions in Mixed Reality

    PROJECT

    Current solutions for providing navigation instructions to users who are walking are mostly limited to 2D maps on smartphones and voice-based instructions...

  • Screenshots of two examples of Diminished Reality. One shows two side-by-side images of a desk with a computer, mouse, keyboard and decorative object on one side, and the same desk with all objects but the decorative object faded out. The other image shows a shelf with books on one side, and a shelf with all but one book faded out.

    Towards Understanding Diminished Reality

    PROJECT

    Diminished reality (DR) refers to the concept of removing content from a user's visual environment. While its implementation is becoming feasible, it is s...

  • UML-style workflow diagram of system. A Mixed Reality layout is generated by users, and an automatic system the adapts its positioning.

    SemanticAdapt

    PROJECT

    We present an optimization-based approach that automatically adapts Mixed Reality (MR) interfaces to different physical environments. Current MR layouts, ...