The Emerging Technologies programme at the all-online SIGGRAPH 2020 offers a glimpse into the future—and it’s going to be immersive
Quick read
➨ Forced online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, SIGGRAPH 2020 will run from today to 28 August, with content available online and on-demand through 27 October. To attend, register here
➨ Its Emerging Technologies programme line-up offers virtual participants a glimpse at the technology of the future
➨ In addition to projects from Stanford University, Nvidia, and Tokyo Institute of Technology, SIGGRAPH 2020 highlights include several leaps forward in immersive technology
The story
Researchers are presenting 20 new advances in everything from headsets to haptics during the first-ever online SIGGRAPH conference this and next week.
Forced online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, SIGGRAPH 2020 will run from today to 28 August, with content available online and on-demand through 27 October.
This week is dedicated to on-demand content, with live sessions set to take place from 24 August. To attend, register here.
Its Emerging Technologies programme line-up offers virtual participants a glimpse at the technology of the future.
In addition to projects from Stanford University, Nvidia, and Tokyo Institute of Technology, SIGGRAPH 2020 highlights include several leaps forward in immersive technology:
ThinVR: VR Displays With Wide FOV in a Compact Form Factor
On-demand: 17–28 August; Live Q&A: 26 August, 10am PDT
From Intel Labs, ThinVR is a new approach that simultaneously addresses the bulk and limited field of view of today’s head-worn VR displays. The team’s approach replaces traditional large optics with a curved microlens array of custom-designed heterogeneous lenslets and places these in front of a curved display.
Photo-Chromeleon: Re-Programmable Multi-Colour Textures Using Photochromic Dyes
On-demand: 17–28 August; Live Q&A: 26 August, 10am PDT
Photo-Chromeleon is a technology from MIT CSAIL designed to create re-programmable, multi-colour textures that are made from a single material only.
Feel It: Using Proprioceptive and Haptic Feedback for Interaction With Virtual Embodiment
On-demand: 17–28 August; Live Q&A: 24 August, 4pm PDT
From the University of South Australia, Keio University and CSIRO, this research is intended to suggest techniques for providing virtual embodiment using haptic and proprioceptive feedback.
On-demand: 17–28 August; Live Q&A: 26 August, 4pm PDT
The Tight Game system—by researchers out of the University of Tokyo, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, and France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique—includes four force sensors and two hidden, high-torque motors to provide real-time physical assistance. One pair of players pulls the tug, and they believe they are playing a well-balanced tight game, but another person actually mediates the game with implicit physical intervention.
Commenting on the Emerging Technologies line-up, Facebook’s Dani Belko, chair of this SIGGRAPH 2020 programme, said: “This year, Emerging Technologies will definitely be offering a new experience that goes beyond our typical format.”
“While virtual demos and discussions are unchartered territory for SIGGRAPH contributors and participants, everyone is excited to embrace the new world we’re living in … and eager to showcase the technologies that might shape its future.”
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Main image: Some technology being presented during the Emerging Technologies programme at SIGGRAPH 2020