CSEI seminar Hybrid Reality- Visually and Structurally Mixed Reality

On Wednesday 19th September 2018 the Centre for Systems Engineering & Innovation hosted Associate Processor. Frédéric Bosché, Heriot Watt University for our seminar series.

Presentation download

Abstract:

Building projects require the engagement of a diverse range of stakeholders with different skills and experience. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is based upon the process of generating (semantically-rich) 3D models. Those 3D models constitute a valuable means to enable productive interactions with all those different stakeholders, and Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies are a great medium to enable them to effectively navigate and explore these 3D models. Besides, these technologies also offer great potential to enhance training, not just of architects, engineers or surveyors (as is often publicised), but of all construction disciplines including trade workers.

This talk will present on-going research work in the development of MR technology for application in the AEC sector. Starting from a review of common Virtual and Mixed Reality technologies, I will highlight some limitations of these, in particular regarding the structural integration of the 3D reality with the 3D virtual content. This will lead to the presentation of two on-going projects:

• the immersive Hybrid Reality (iHR) project that developed a novel kind of Augmented Virtuality (AV) technology that is shown to provide enhance levels of presence compared to VR, and has particular application for training; and
• the UrbanPlanAR project, which aims to enhance visualisation of building designs (i.e. 3D BIM models) within urban environments through occlusion-aware AR.

Bio:

Frédéric graduated holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada in 2008. He worked as a PostDoc in the Computer Vision group of ETH Zurich, Switzerland for 2.5 years, before joining the School of the Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society (EGIS) at Heriot-Watt University in 2011.  He joined as a Lecturer and subsequently became Associate Processor. Frédéric leads the CyberBuild Lab (http://cyberbuild.hw.ac.uk/) through which he has delivered research and consultancy projects of value approaching £2.5m (approx. 50% funded by industry).

Frédéric’s research covers two main areas:

(1)   Processing of reality capture data to enhance asset construction and life cycle management.

(2)   Development and use of virtual and mixed reality technology, to support collaborative and engaging design, construction and engineering works, as well as training.

Frédéric has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers in internationally-recognised journal and conferences, and his research has received a few international research and innovation awards, including two CIOB International Research & Innovation awards in 2016. Frédéric is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC), and he is Associate Editor of Automation in Construction (Elsevier).