The goal of the technical topic investigation is for you to analyze and critique something current that is of interest to you in the area of AR, so everyone in the class can see what variety of things are out there. The topic should be something that actually exists, at least in prototype form. You will do a presentation to the class on your topic.
Examples of possible topics
Investigate the technical design of smart glasses such as HoloLens (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0fEh4UdtT8), Magic Leap, or nReal, in terms of the sensors, optics, ergonomics, etc. Alternatively, go into detail on specific hardware elements such as depth sensors, IMUs, etc.
Investigate computer vision algorithms that recognize objects, perform SLAM, estimate lighting, track the user’s hand, do camera calibration, etc.
Pick some other topic, that the book describes only briefly, and go into it in depth. For example, consider the topic of placing labels to avoid clutter and ambiguity (Chapter 7). You could describe in detail the approaches taken by two or three papers (papers that are referred to in the text, or papers that you can find on your own, e.g., in ISMAR proceedings).
Pick an application and find two or three papers that have described approaches to this application. Or, if there are no papers on this specific application, describe work that may be relevant. For example, if you are interested in AR for navigation in an underground mine, find some papers that describe navigation techniques for environments that are similar to underground mines (and perhaps discuss why these approaches are relevant, or have shortcomings).
For graduate students, one must select at least two conference papers (over seven pages) or one journal paper.
Where to find papers
Below are some prominent conferences or journals dedicated to AR or containing high-quality AR research:
- IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR)
- IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
- ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST)
- ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)
- ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
The papers should be accessible when you are connected to Mines network. For off campus access, please refer to https://libguides.mines.edu/offcampusaccess.
Dates
10/6. Upload to Canvas a title for your presentation, an abstract (description) that is 200-250 words long, and, for graduate students, the papers you have selected and the rationale behind your selection. I will review the proposals and may ask for a clarification or resubmission.
10/27, 11/1, 11/3, and 11/8. Presentations to class (instructions will follow).