iPERFORM: Collaborative Performance through Immersive Technologies and Virtual Worlds

A chair to make the most of Virtual/Augmented Reality for training and remote working

We know that successive lockdowns have boosted synchronous and asynchronous remote collaboration. Video conferencing software has shown its limitations, while virtual worlds have demonstrated their benefits. Immersive technologies develop feelings of presence ("being there") and embodiment. They allow us to better understand (by visualizing invisible phenomena, for example) and to better understand in order to learn, create, and decide. Virtual and augmented realities have the advantage of being able to improve the performance and experience of users (employees, customers, etc.).

Currently in the prospecting phase, the companies approached know that they will be able to benefit from a privileged relationship with researchers, international experts in immersive technologies, and Arts et Métiers students.

Partners will enjoy four main benefits...

⦁ A review of the state of the art in scientific advances in the field

⦁ Cross-fertilization through numerous meetings and seminars with other industrial partners

⦁ National and international visibility

⦁ Favorable tax treatment (Research Tax Credit)

The chair will be structured around three areas of scientific research

INCARNATION

This involves user representation and collaboration in immersive environments. Studies focus on the adaptability of immersive applications to individual user characteristics, representation methods in multi-platform environments, and their impact in terms of experiences and social interactions.

PERCEPTION

This involves the representation of environments and their constituent elements. Studies focus on the graphic consistency of environments and virtual characters, as well as on the perception of materials and the intelligibility of the visualization of complex phenomena.

INTERACTION

This concerns the ways in which people interact with virtual environments, but also with each other in virtual worlds. Studies focus in particular on the potential of collaborative virtual worlds in order to characterize their uses and limitations.

THE RESULTS OF THE CHAIR ENABLE DEVELOP USE CASES FOR APPLICATIONS ON DIFFERENT FIELDS OF INTEREST TO THE CHAIR'S PARTNER COMPANIES:

• TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT : learning in a virtual world, training operators in technical skills, developing social skills
• CO-DESIGN : Stimulating designers' creativity, remote collaborative design, immersion, and co-design with future users in context of use  
• COLLABORATION & RELATIONSHIPS : natural comfort, user experience (UX), informal relationships and signals, synchronous and asynchronous multimodal asymmetric cross-platform collaboration. 
• DECISION SUPPORT : visualize the invisible, understand complex phenomena, interact with digital models.  

A team of 10 researchers dedicated to the iPerform Chair program and 200 Arts et Métiers students will beinvolvedover a period of five years.