International Society
for Presence Research

Author: Matthew Lombard

  • Gene Roddenberry estate project to create life-size hologram of USS Enterprise

    Published:

    [Yes please. It’s not clear when or even if it’ll happen but as this CNET story notes, a holodeck-like recreation of the entire USS Enterprise would please die-hard fans of the Star Trek franchise. See the original story for more pictures and a 6:11 minute video (also available via YouTube). The official press release is available from PR Newswire and, with lots of pictures, on the OTOY website. See also coverage in Variety. There have been several efforts to recreate the experience of being on the USS Enterprise, including the Star Trek: Original Series Set Tour in Ticonderoga, New York;…

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  • Call: LSR 2021: 6th International Congress on Love and Sex With Robots

    Published:

    [An online event this week…  –Matthew] Call for Participation LSR 2021: 6th International Congress on Love & Sex With Robots August 18-20th, 2021 Online via Zoom https://www.lovewithrobots.com/ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-6th-international-congress-on-love-and-sex-with-robots-tickets-156421519977 Within the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Robot Interaction, the past few years have witnessed a strong upsurge of interest in the more personal aspects of human relationships with artificial partners. This is demonstrated well by the interest of the general public, coverage in print media, TV documentaries and feature films, but also within the academic community. This topic is relevant now and increases year over year as artificial intelligence innovates and…

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  • Nvidia reveals its CEO was computer generated in keynote speech

    Published:

    [Nvidia created a virtual version of its CEO to give part of a keynote speech, as reported in this PC Magazine story. Despite the after-the-fact critique of the realism of the illusion, it’s notable that many people either initially believed it or thought the doppelganger gave the entire speech when it was just a short segment (a VICE story helpfully says “if you jump to this part of the presentation you can see [Jensen] Huang magically disappear and his kitchen explode into multiple different 3D models). And even the PC Magazine story notes that “Given the ongoing advancements in technology,…

    Read more: Nvidia reveals its CEO was computer generated in keynote speech

  • Call: SACAIR 2021 – South African Conference for Artificial Intelligence Research

    Published:

    Call for Papers SACAIR2021 – South African Conference for Artificial Intelligence Research Theme: Artificial Intelligence for Science, Technology and Society Dolphin Coast, KwaZulu-Natal South Africa 6 – 10 December 2021 http://2021.sacair.org.za/ Abstract submission deadline: 10 September 2021 Full paper submission deadline: 24 September 2021 The Organising Committee of the South African Conference for Artificial Intelligence Research (SACAIR2021) invites the submission of full papers for presentation at the conference, to be held at Simbithi Country Club, Simbithi Eco-Estate, Dolphin Coast, KwaZulu-Natal, from 6 – 10 December 2021. The conference theme is ‘Artificial Intelligence for Science, Technology and Society’. The SACAIR series…

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  • Presence and space: Year-long Mars experiment and Earthbound “space avatars”

    Published:

    [The two new stories below highlight the important role of different types of presence in the exploration and commercialization of space. The first from Business Insider is about a year-long NASA simulation; as the linked press release says, “The habitat will simulate the challenges of a mission on Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays, and other environmental stressors. Crew tasks may include simulated spacewalks, scientific research, use of virtual reality and robotic controls, and exchanging communications.” The second story, from The Register, describes an ambitious project in Japan to deploy “mobile robot ’space avatars’ controllable by the public…

    Read more: Presence and space: Year-long Mars experiment and Earthbound “space avatars”

  • Call: HRI 2022, 17th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

    Published:

    Call for Papers 17th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2022) March 7-10, 2022 Sapporo, Japan and online [see “CONFERENCE CHANGES DUE TO COVID-19” below] https://humanrobotinteraction.org/2022/ Full paper submission deadline: October 1, 2021 The ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction is a premier, highly-selective venue presenting the latest advances in Human-Robot Interaction. The 17th Annual HRI conference theme is “Breaking Boundaries.” The conference seeks contributions from a broad set of perspectives, including technical, design, behavioural, theoretical, methodological, and metrological, that advance fundamental and applied knowledge and methods in human-robot interaction. Full papers will be archived in the ACM…

    Read more: Call: HRI 2022, 17th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

  • Facebook researchers show ‘reverse passthrough’ VR prototype for eye-contact outside the headset

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    [Facebook is developing a technology that displays an external view of the eyes of the user of a virtual reality headset, creating a presence illusion for other people in the room and reducing the sense of isolation of the user. The current prototype is described in the Road to VR story below, where the original includes two more images and two short videos. –Matthew] Facebook Researchers Show ‘Reverse Passthrough’ VR Prototype for Eye-contact Outside the Headset By Ben Lang August 3, 2021 Researchers at Facebook Reality Labs today published new work showcasing a prototype headset which has external displays to…

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  • Call: “Innovations in Game-Based Learning” issue of Multimodal Technologies and Interaction

    Published:

    [Important note: I usually avoid posting Calls for Papers that involve the requirement that authors pay a fee for submission and/or publication but do so when the topic is particularly relevant to the presence community. In these cases, as with the Call below, I add an explicit note near the top of the post specifying the fee. For more information about these fees, see AJE Scholar’s “Understanding Submission and Publication Fees” and Wikipedia’s entry on Article Processing Charges. –Matthew] Call for Papers “Innovations in Game-Based Learning” Special issue of Multimodal Technologies and Interaction https://www.mdpi.com/journal/mti/special_issues/GBL Article processing charge: 1,400 Swiss Francs…

    Read more: Call: “Innovations in Game-Based Learning” issue of Multimodal Technologies and Interaction

  • Novel VR system uses presence to make having an MRI easier for children and others

    Published:

    [The King’s College London report below describes a clever use of presence to immerse, distract and calm patients while they have an MRI scan. The original version of the story includes three different images and a 6:41 minute demonstration video is available on YouTube. For related news see “Virtual reality application helps prepare children for MRI examination without fear” in News Medical and the 2018 ISPR Presence News post “First person report: MRI scans are horrible for kids – so I created a VR app to help.” –Matthew] [Image: Source: Medical Xpress] A novel virtual reality technology to make MRI…

    Read more: Novel VR system uses presence to make having an MRI easier for children and others

  • Call: AI and the human – Cross-cultural perspectives on science and fiction

    Published:

    Call for Papers Artificial intelligence and the human – Cross-cultural perspectives on science and fiction A Japanese-German Conference in Berlin, Germany 12 and 13 May 2022 & Edited Volume (2023) https://www.hiig.de/en/events/ai21/ Submission deadline: 20 September 2021 Current debates on artificial intelligence often conflate the realities of AI technologies with the fictional renditions of what they might one day become. They are said to be able to learn, make autonomous decisions or process information much faster than humans, which raises hopes and fears alike. What if these useful technologies will one day develop their own intentions that run contrary to those…

    Read more: Call: AI and the human – Cross-cultural perspectives on science and fiction

  • The fine line between reality and imaginary

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    [New research described in this story from Nautilus demonstrates how “reality and imagination are completely intermixed in our brain which means that the separation between our inner world and the outside world is not as clear as we might like to think.” As technology-mediated experiences become increasingly similar to experiences of either the external or internal world, the potential for further blurring seems likely to increase. See the original story for a second image and reader comments. –Matthew] [Image: One shade of gray: Our knowledge about how shadows influence color makes the B square look lighter than the A square,…

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  • Call: CUI@AutoUI 2021 virtual workshop

    Published:

    Call for Expressions of Interest and Participation CUI@AutoUI 2021: A virtual workshop to connect the Automotive User Interfaces (Auto-UI) and Conversational User Interfaces (CUI) communities September 9-10, 2021 https://www.conversationaluserinterfaces.org/workshops/AutoUI2021/ We are hosting a virtual workshop, CUI@AutoUI 2021, aims to connect the Automotive User Interfaces (Auto-UI) and Conversational User Interfaces (CUI) communities through discussion of their shared view of the future of automotive conversational user interfaces. The workshop is open to anyone interested in conversational or automotive user interfaces, with no expectations about your expertise in either topic. We are currently requesting expressions of interest! Submission details can be found below…

    Read more: Call: CUI@AutoUI 2021 virtual workshop

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