In the field of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), which can be subsumed under the term Extended Reality (XR), a wide range of infrastructures exist in the Berlin area that are used for outstanding scientific work. These include systems for generating extended reality in visual, auditory and haptic areas, as well as systems for measuring user states, approaches for interacting with such realities, tools for designing audiovisual content, and procedures for standardised evaluation of XR. So far, these resources and the expertise to use them are distributed among many researchers in different institutions and faculties.
The aim of the Berlin XR Lab is to virtually network existing resources in the field of Extended Reality and to make them visible and locatable.
Due to the nature of the infrastructure (large-scale equipment and spatially fixed infrastructures combined with mobile rendering, sensors and actuators), a virtual lab seems to be the best way to achieve this goal. The partners of the Berlin XR Lab are, on the one hand, institutions of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) and, on the other hand, other scientific institutions (Universities of Applied Sciences, Max Planck Institutes) in the Berlin area. The Berlin XR Lab is thus a shared resource of BUA and beyond, and is recognised by BUA as a "BUA-adopted initiative". The scientists involved in the Berlin XR Lab form a community that initiates activities for scientific exchange and the definition of new projects at all levels (student theses, externally funded projects).
LECTURE SERIES
18.10.2022
How to Create XR User Experiences?
QUALITY AND USABILITY LAB - TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Möller, Tanja Kojic, Dr.-Ing. Stefan Hillmann
Place: Campus Charlottenburg (TEL 20. Stock, Auditorium)
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
The Quality and Usability Lab of TU Berlin analyses human interaction with technology in order to design optimum user experiences. Whereas we focused on 3D audio presentation techniques in the past, most of our current work addresses implications of interactive visual XR technology. In particular, we are interested in analyzing influencing factors on UX in XR, social aspects, as well as methods for measuring UX. The tour will show our lab spaces on the 15th floor of the TEL building of TU Berlin, and will highlight current research work.
25.10.2022
Real Brains in Virtual Worlds.
BERLIN MOBILE BRAIN / BODY IMAGING LAB - TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
Prof. Dr. Klaus Gramann
Place: Campus Charlottenburg (Straße des 17. Juni 135, TU Berlin main building, room H2053)
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
The talk will provide an overview of the theoretical and practical basis of Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI) that uses mobile brain imaging modalities in combination with motion capture and other physiological recordings to investigate human brain activity in actively behaving participants. I will present experimental protocols using mobile multimodal data recordings combined with virtual reality to investigate the impact of movement on human brain activity. The results of a series of experiments reveal that the active behavior of human participants is fundamental for a better understanding of human brain function in real and virtual environents and showcases the importance of VR for designing new experimental protocols to investigate the human brain.
01.11.2022
Interdisciplinary XR Design Science Research.
REALITAETENLABOR - TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
Jakob Korbel, Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Zarnekow
Place: Campus Charlottenburg, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin (Raum: H6126)
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
The REALITAETENLABOR offers a space for interdisciplinary and application-oriented augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) developments with a focus on eBusiness applications as well as interdisciplinary projects in cooperation with institutions and researchers from diverse disciplines. In the talk, we will illustrate how interdisciplinary XR (AR+VR) research can be accomplished based on the Design Science Research (DSR) paradigm on the example of VR applications for virtual exposure therapies and virtual archaeological deposits. After the presentation, you have the opportunity to experience the applications in the REALITAETENLABOR on the sixth floor of the TU Berlin main building.
08.11.2022
Virtual Cycling Environment
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
Lukas Stratmann, Prof. Dr. Falko Dressler
Place: Campus Charlottenburg, Einsteinufer 25, 10587 Berlin (Raum: HFT-TA 340)
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Assistance systems for bicycles based on vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication have the potential to prevent accidents and increase the perceived safety when cycling. To develop and test such systems efficiently and in a safe environment, we use an interactive cycling simulator called Virtual Cycling Environment (VCE). We give an insight into V2X communication, how it could be used in a bicycle context, how our VCE works and what experience we have gained with the simulation environment.
WINTER
BREAK
Winter Break.
Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year
2023
Program in 2023: Hier kommt Text für die jeweiligen Lehrveranstaltungen rein. Eventuell sollte man anfragen, ob wir uns auf eine Textlänge einigen können, damit nicht eine:r 50 und der/die andere 5000 Zeichen einreicht. Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext Fülltext, Fülltext, Fülltext. Ich denke, die Länge die wir jetzt hier haben, sollte eigentlich gar nicht so verkehrt sein.
10.01.2023
Immersive Technologies for Culture and Arts
Future Realities Lab (HTW Berlin) & Im/material Theatre Spaces (digital.DTHG)
digital.DTHG / HOCHSCHULE FÜR TECHNIK UND WIRTSCHAFT BERLIN
Franziska Ritter, Pablo Dornhege
Place: HTW Berlin - Campus Wilhelminenhof (Raum: tba)
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Prof. Pablo Dornhege and Franziska Ritter present their research project "Im/material Theatre Spaces". Here, over the past 3 years, application-oriented research has been conducted into the potential of digital technologies such as virtual and augmented reality for the theater and event industry - whether as a tool for creative processes, as a knowledge space or as a place for new theatrical forms of performance. Around the topics of theater technology, architecture and stage space, we provide insights into prototypical showcases and present approaches for further research projects and cooperation opportunities. In addition, the newly founded Future Realities Lab at the Communication Design study program of HTW Berlin will be presented. In the future, topics related to virtual and hybrid-real cultural and knowledge spaces will be researched here.
17.01.2023
Virtual Humans for XR Applications.
FRAUNHOFER HEINRICH-HERTZ INSTITUT / HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN
Prof. Dr. Peter Eisert
Place: Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), Salzufer 16, 4th floor (seminar room 4-13)
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Photo-realistic modelling and rendering of humans is extremely important for virtual reality (VR) environments, as the human body and face are highly complex and exhibit large shape variability but also, especially, as humans are extremely sensitive to looking at humans. Further, in VR environments, interactivity plays an important role. While purely computer graphics modeling can achieve highly realistic human models, achieving real photo-realism with these models is computationally extremely expensive. Hence, more and more hybrid methods have been proposed in recent years. In this talk, the creation of high-quality animatable volumetric video content of human performances is addressed. Recent progress in learning human motion and appearance, neural rendering, and implicit function rendering (e.g. NeRF) enable the creation of realistic representation of virtual humans. We combine these approaches with classical models in order to obtain full control for body and face animation. Different concepts ranging from animatable volumetric video to pure data driven representation will be presented that target the realistic animation of virtual humans for different applications.
24.01.2023
XR in Medicine.
CHARITÉ - UNIVERSITÄTSMEDIZIN BERLIN
Prof. Dr. Moritz Queisner, Prof. Dr. Igor Sauer
Place: Tieranatomisches Theater (Raum: tba)
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Coming soon.
31.01.2023
Are you immersed?
IMMERSIVE REALITY LAB - HOCHSCHULE HAMM-LIPPSTADT
Prof. Dr. Jan-Niklas Voigt-Antons
Place: Campus Charlottenburg, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7, 2nd floor (room TEL 209)
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 7:00 pm
Coming soon.
31.01.2023
Light, Color & Extended Reality for Critically Ill Patients
TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT - TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
Prof. Dr. med. Alawi Lütz (& Prof. Dr. Søren Salomo)
Place: Campus Charlottenburg, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7, 2nd floor (Room TEL 209)
Time: Tuesday, 7:00 - 8:00 pm
Delirium is the most frequent syndrome of acute brain dysfunction among patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU). Up to 80% of patients are affected. More importantly, one-third of these patients suffer from persistent cognitive disabilities, which is also a substantial economic healthcare issue. As pharmacological approaches have failed to show benefits for patient outcomes, non-pharmacological strategies have come into focus. Emerging evidence is reshaping critical care medicine from paralyzed sedated patients to awake, non-sedated patients. Within an interdisciplinary project funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics, our research group at Charité developed a new and highly customizable light ceiling that allows individualized circadian lighting and parameterized visuals to be deployed at the patient's bedside. Parts of it have recently become the status of a medical device. As the first preliminary results are auspicious, we are now extending the development of therapies and exploring options, including XR technology. Beyond offering insights into these applications and ongoing research, our presentation offers opportunities for other research areas to engage and explore the potential of such technology in clinical care. Currently, we are establishing a laboratory that allows for different experiments outside clinical practice. For more information on this project visit https://cociwg.org & https://www.tu.berlin/tim/forschung/projekte
07.02.2023
Human-Robot Interaction, VR Research and Haptic Interfaces
BERLIN UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
Prof. Dr. Ivo Boblan, Prof. Dr. Kristian Hildebrand, Prof. Dr. Katrin Wolf
Place: Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology, Building Bauwesen (Room D316)
Luxemburger Str. 10, 13353 Berlin
Time: Tuesday, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
The Human.VR.Lab explores the intersection of human-computer and human-robot interaction through various interdisciplinary topics. These include the study of gesture-based interaction with humanoid robots, human motion analysis and pose estimation, the development of interaction-based walking techniques for virtual environments, the examination of new haptic interfaces, and the collaboration with the Charite on innovative virtual therapy applications.
14.02.2023
Computational Design augmented by Virtual Reality.
FG AUDIOKOMMUNIKATION - TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
Prof. Dr. Stefan Weinzierl
Ort: Berlin Open Lab - Mixed Reality Design Lab (Einsteinufer 43, ggf. beim Pförtner fragen)
Zeit: Dienstag, 18:00 - 20:00 Uhr
The Mixed Reality Design Lab of TU and UdK Berlin works on computer-aided design methods in the field of architecture, building physics, acoustics as well as in the field of art and design, and on the direct transfer of these designs into a sensory experience with techniques of virtual and augmented reality. The talk will give an insight into the computational framework that has been developed. Afterwards, some virtual environments from ongoing research projects will be shown.
INSTITUTIONS AND PEOPLE OF BUA PARTNERS
CHARITÉ - UNIVERSITÄTSMEDIZIN BERLIN
Berliner Simulations- und Trainingszentrum (BeST)
Image Guidance Lab (IGL)
Scientists involved:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Picht | Dr. Torsten Schröder | PD Dr. Güliz Acker
XR research areas:
Interdisciplinary development of VR educational videos | Development of new display concepts for multimodal brain imaging | Development of AI and XR supported teaching concepts.
Website:
BIH Brain Simulation Section
Scientists involved:
Prof. Dr. Petra Ritter | ca. 40-köpfiges Team der Sektion Gehirnsimulation
XR research areas:
Complex brain simulations and 3D visualizations.
Website:
Experimentelle Chirurgie
XR-Lab
Scientists involved:
Prof. Dr. Igor Sauer | Dr. Moritz Queisner | Christopher Remde | Christoph Rüger
Development and evaluation of XR applications for training & education, intraoperative imaging, surgical planning, and 4D simulation of biomedical research data.
XR research areas:
Website:
FREIE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
Prof. Dr. Margreth Lünenborg | Dr. Saskia Sell | Ana Makhashvili
Scientists involved:
XR research areas:
Journalism research | Emotion and affect research | Research on immersive forms of storytelling/reporting and their significance for the creation of the public sphere.
Website:
HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN
FG Visual Computing und Fraunhofer HHI
Scientists involved:
Prof. Dr. Peter Eisert | Anna Hilsmann | Wieland Morgenstern | Wolfgang Paier
Generation and visualization of AR and VR content | capture, modeling & rendering of realistic human representations | interactive & collaborative virtual environments | registration of virtual & real scene elements | semantic 3D capture of scenes | streaming of AR/VR content.
XR research areas:
Website:
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN
FG Biopsychologie und Neuroergonomie
Berlin Mobile Brain / Body Imaging Lab
Prof. Dr. Klaus Gramann | Benjamin Paulisch | Marius Klug| Lukas Gehrke
Scientists involved:
XR research areas:
Neuroergonomie | Embodied Cognitive Neuroscience | Real World Brain Imaging | Mobile Brain / Body Imaging | Spatial Cognition | Neuroarchitecture | Neurourbanism.
Website:
FG Industrielle Informationstechnik
Prof. Dr. Rainer Stark | Nedim Kovacevic
Scientists involved:
XR research areas:
Use of AR/VR technologies in industry with the aim of improving products, industrial processes and working methods of engineers.
Websites:
FG Informations- und Kommunikationsmanagement
REALITAETENLABOR
Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Zarnekow | Jakob J. Korbel | Marc Riar | Kooperationspartner*innen an FU und HU Berlin
Scientists involved:
XR research areas:
Interdisciplinary and application-oriented research and development on the use of XR technologies in the field of eBusiness, eHealth and eCulture | Virtual Goods, Assets, Markets and Business Models.
Website:
Institut für Kunstgeschichte und digital.DTHG
Franziska Ritter | Pablo Dornhege
Scientists involved:
AR and VR in the field of theater / museum and theater architecture, theater technology and stage design.
XR research areas:
Websites:
FG Lichttechnik
Scientists involved:
Prof. Dr. Stephan Völker | Martine Knoop | Marina Leontopoulos | Silke Leontopoulos
Visualization and perception of light scenes in virtual reality (especially daylight in indoor and urban environments as well as night lighting) | Investigation of luminance adaptation with VR-HMDS, validation of light simulation in game engines | Photometric and colormetric calibration of VR-HMDs.
XR research areas:
Website:
​Lichttechnik
Institut für Mathematik
3D-Labor
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Schwandt | Milan Mehner | Ben Jastram | Joachim Weinhold | Samuel Jerichow
Scientists involved:
Support of scientific work and mediation for different topics, so far especially for mathematical visualization and in the future for applications within the projects of the Interdisciplinary Center for Modeling and Simulation and the Central Facility 3D Technologies.
XR research areas:
​3D Labor
Website:
FG Quality and Usability
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Möller | Dr.-Ing. Stefan Hillmann | Tanja Kojic
Scientists involved:
Quality and usability of virtual and augmented environments | Physiological measurement techniques to determine user states as well as quality and user experience.
XR research areas:
Website:
FG Telecommunication Networks
Scientists involved:
Prof. Dr. Falko Dressler | Lukas Stratmann
XR research areas:
Intelligent transportation systems | Vulnerable Road Users | Safety systems for cyclists and pedestrians | Vehicle communications.
Website:
TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN / UNIVERSITÄT DER KÜNSTE
Berlin Open Lab / Mixed Reality Design Lab
Scientists involved:
Prof. Dr.Stefan Weinzierl | Prof. Dr. Christoph Gengnagel | Prof. Dr. Christoph Nytsch-Geusen | Martine Knoop | Saqib Aziz
XR research areas:
Numerical simulation of building physics systems (acoustics, structure, energy, light) | Virtual reality displays for sound, light, heat, structure | Augmented reality for designing spaces.
Website:
OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND PERSONS
BERLINER HOCHSCHULE FÜR TECHNIK
Human-VR-Lab
Scientists involved:
XR research areas:
Prof. Dr. Kristian Hildebrand | Prod. Dr. Ivo Boblan | Thereza Schmelter | Arnold Schwarz | Manuel Weiß
Intelligent interactive systems | Movement and navigation in virtual and augmented environments | Virtual therapies | Interaction and robotic.
Website:
HOCHSCHULE HAMM-LIPPSTADT
Immersive Reality Lab
Scientists involved:
XR research areas:
Prof. Dr. Jan-Niklas Voigt-Antons
Development and evaluation of immersive media | Focus areas: Applications in the fields of gaming and medicine | Multimodal measurement technology for determining user states.
Website:
HOCHSCHULE FÜR TECHNIK UND WIRTSCHAFT
FG Informations- und Kommunikationsanwendungen
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Sieck | Elisabeth Thielen | Maja Stark | Julien Letellier
Scientists involved:
XR research areas:
Interdisciplinary development of mobile applications with a focus on extended reality (AR, MR, VR) and use in art and culture.
Website:
MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT
MPI für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften Leipzig (Standort Berlin)
Scientists involved:
Dr. Michael Gaebler | Felix Klotzsche | Antonin Fourcade
XR research areas:
Affective and cognitive neuroscience | Measurements of physiology, behavior, and sensation in immersive VR | Development and testing of clinical VR applications | Combining psychological and physiological measurement methods with immersive VR.
Website:
FUNDING
The Berlin XR Lab is an initiative of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) and is recognized by them as a "BUA-adopted initiative". However, it currently receives no funding beyond the basic resources of the participating institutions. The BUA aims to strengthen the common Berlin research space through the shared use of infrastructures, to form professional-scientific communities around common infrastructures, and thus to foster new scientific projects.