Transformative Emerging Technologies at SIGGRAPH
September 2, 2020

Transformative Emerging Technologies at SIGGRAPH

CHICAGO—Within the SIGGRAPH Emerging Technologies program lineup, virtual participants were able to get a glimpse at the technology of the future. Think beyond everyday consumer technology as researchers presented 20 new advances in everything from headsets to haptics during the first-ever online SIGGRAPH conference. The content is available online and on-demand through 27 October.
“This year, Emerging Technologies definitely is offering a new experience that goes beyond our typical format,” noted SIGGRAPH 2020 Emerging Technologies Chair Dani Belko, of Facebook. “While virtual demos and discussions are unchartered territory for SIGGRAPH contributors and participants, everyone is excited to embrace the new world we’re living in…and eager to showcase the technologies that might shape its future.”

Usually a physical space where minds meet at the mid-point between inception and adoption, the SIGGRAPH conference Emerging Technologies program is known for showcasing groundbreaking research with an emphasis on superhuman hardware and software applications. With projects hailing from seven countries worldwide, discover how technology can help humans do the impossible and enhance the ways we interact with the world.

In addition to projects from Stanford University, Nvidia, and Tokyo Institute of Technology, some of our 2020 highlights include:

ThinVR: VR Displays With Wide FOV in a Compact Form Factor
From Intel Labs, ThinVR is a new approach that simultaneously addresses the bulk and limited FOV of today’s head-worn VR displays. The team’s approach replaces traditional large optics with a curved microlens array of custom-designed heterogeneous lenslets and places these in front of a curved display. 

Photo-Chromeleon: Re-Programmable Multi-Color Textures Using Photochromic Dyes
Photo-Chromeleon is a technology from MIT CSAIL designed to create re-programmable, multi-color textures that are made from a single material only. 

Feel It: Using Proprioceptive and Haptic Feedback for Interaction With Virtual Embodiment
From University of South Australia, Keio University, and CSIRO, this research is intended to suggest techniques for providing virtual embodiment using haptic and proprioceptive feedback. 

The Tight Game: Implicit Force Intervention in Interpersonal Physical Interactions on Playing Tug of War
The Tight Game system — by researchers out of the University of Tokyo, Sony Computer Science Laboratories, and France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique — includes four force sensors and two hidden, high-torque motors to provide real-time physical assistance. One pair of players pulls the tug, and they believe they are playing a well-balanced tight game, but another person actually mediates the game with implicit physical intervention. 

Emerging Technologies is open to Ultimate and Enhanced pass holders.

Image: © 2020 Information Somatics Lab