Section: Partnerships and Cooperations

National Initiatives

ANR CORVETTE

Participants : Bruno Arnaldi [contact] , Valérie Gouranton [contact] , Florian Nouviale, Thomas Lopez, Rozenn Bouville Berthelot, Thomas Boggini, Quentin Petit.

CORVETTE (COllaboRative Virtual Environment Technical Training and Experiment) is a 4-year ANR project (2011-2014) led by Bruno Arnaldi. It involves 3 Academic partners (INSA Rennes, ENIB, CEA-List) and 4 Industrial partners (AFPA, Nexter Training, Virtualys, Golaem). CORVETTE aims at designing novel approaches for industrial training (maintenance, complex procedures, security, diagnosis, etc) exploiting virtual reality technologies. The project has three main research axes: collaborative work, virtual human, communication and evaluation. The project seeks to put in synergy: 1) Virtual Human for its ability to embody the user as an avatar and acting as a collaborator during trainingj; 2) Natural communication between users and virtual humans for task-oriented dialogues; and 3) Methodologies in cognitive psychology for the assessment of the effectiveness of the collaboration of users and virtual humans to perform complex cooperative tasks in VR. All these components have been integrated into a unified environment based on an industrial scenario. Several evaluations regarding the different technologies developed in the project have also been achieved.

ANR MANDARIN

Participants : Merwan Achibet, Anatole Lécuyer, Maud Marchal [contact] .

MANDARIN ("MANipulation Dextre hAptique pour opéRations INdustrielles en RV") is a 4-year ANR project (2012-2015). MANDARIN partners are CEA-List (coordinator), Inria/Hybrid, UTC, Haption and Renault. It aims at designing new hardware and software solutions to achieve natural and intuitive mono and bi-manual dextrous interactions, suitable for virtual environments. The objective of Hybrid in MANDARIN is to design novel multimodal 3D interaction techniques and metaphors allowing to deal with haptic gloves limitations (portability, under-actuation) and to assist the user in virtual reality applications requiring dexterous manipulation. The results will be evaluated with a representative industrial application which is not feasible with currently existing technologies: the bi-manual manipulation of complex rigid objects and cables bundles.

ANR HOMO-TEXTILUS

Participants : Anatole Lécuyer [contact] , Maud Marchal, Jonathan Mercier-Ganady.

HOMO-TEXTILUS is a 4-year ANR project (2012-2015). Partners of the project are : Inria/Hybrid, CHART, LIP6, TOMORROW LAND, RCP and potential end-user is Hussein Chalayan fashion designer. The objective of HOMO TEXTILUS is to study what could be the next generation of smart and augmented clothes, and their influence and potential impact on behavior and habits of their users. The project is strongly oriented towards human science, with both user studies and sociological studies. The involvement of Hybrid team in the project consists in studying the design of next-gen prototypes of clothes embedding novel kinds of sensors and actuators. Envisionned sensors relate to physiological measurements such as with EEG (electroencephalograpohy and Brain-Computer Interfaces), EMG (muscular activity), GSR (galvanic skin response) or Heart Rate (HR). Envisionned actuators relate to new sensory stimulations such as vibrotactile displays or novel visual (eg LED) displays. These prototypes will thus be used in the various experiments planned in the project.

ANR ACOUSTIC

Participant : Maud Marchal [contact] .

ACOUSTIC is a 3-year ANR project (2011-2013). Partners of the project are : INSERM/University of Rennes 1, CRICM, University of Strasbourg, Inria (Hybrid and Shacra teams). The main objective of the project ACouStiC is to develop an innovative strategy based on models for helping decision-making process during surgical planning in Deep Brain Stimulation. Models rely on different levels involved in the decision-making process; namely multimodal images, information, and knowledge. The project aims at developing methods for 1) building generic and patient specific models and 2) automatically computing optimal electrodes trajectories from these models taking into account possible simulated deformations occurring during surgery. Hybrid is involved in the project with Inria team Shacra and aims at providing models of deformations of the cerebral structures and electrodes for the surgical planning. The objective is to propose a biomechanical approach to model the brain and electrode deformations and also their mutual interaction.

ANR OpenViBE2

Participants : Anatole Lécuyer [contact] , Jozef Legény, Jonathan Mercier-Ganady.

OpenViBE2 is a 4-year ANR project (2009-2013) led by Anatole Lécuyer which ended in February 2013. Partners of the project were: Inria/Hybrid, INSERM, GIPSA-LAB, CEA, CHART, CLARTE, UBISOFT, BLACK SHEEP, and KYLOTONN GAMES. The objective of OpenViBE2 was to study the potential of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) for videogames. OpenViBE2 has proposed a shift of perspective about the use of BCI. First, in OpenViBE2 we considered the possibility to merge a BCI with traditional peripherals such as joysticks, mice and other devices, all being possibly used simultaneously in a virtual environment. Therefore, BCI was not seen as a replacement but as a complement of classical HCI. Second, we aimed at monitoring brain cognitive functions and mental states of the user in order to adapt, in real-time and in an automated fashion, the interaction protocol as well as the content of the remote/virtual environment (VE).

FUI SIFORAS

Participants : Bruno Arnaldi [contact] , Valérie Gouranton [contact] , Thomas Lopez.

SIFORAS (Simulation for training and assistance) is a 3-year project (2011-2014) funded by the competitive cluster "Images et Réseaux". SIFORAS involves 4 academic partners (INSA Rennes, ENIB, CEA-List, ENISE) and 9 Industrial partners (Nexter Training, Delta CAD, Virtualys, DAF Conseils, Nexter Systems, DCNS, Renault, SNCF, Alstom). This project consists in developing a pedagogical system for technical training in industrial procedures. It aims at proposing Instructional Systems Design to answer the new objectives of training (Intelligent Tutorial System, mobility, augmented reality, high productivity). The Hybrid implication in the project shares some common means and goals with the Corvette project, in particular concerning its global architecture based on STORM and LORA models, and exploiting GVT software (section 5.2 ).

FUI Previz

Participants : Bruno Arnaldi [contact] , Valérie Gouranton [contact] .

Previz is a 3-year project (2013-2016) funded by the competitive cluster "Images et Réseaux". Previz involves 4 Academic partners (Hybrid/INSA Rennes, ENS Louis-Lumière, LIRIS, Gipsa-Lab) and 9 Industrial partners (Technicolor, Ubisoft, SolidAnim, loumasystem, Polymorph). Previz aims at proposing new previsualization tools for movie directors. The goal of Hybrid in Previz is to introduce new interactions between real and virtual actors so that the actor's actions, no matter his/her real or virtual nature, impact both the real and the virtual environment. The project will end up with a new production pipeline in order to automatically adapt and synchronize the visual effects (VFX), in space and time, to the real performance of an actor.

ADT MAN-IP

Participant : Valérie Gouranton [contact] .

The ADT MAN-IP is a 2-year project (2013-2015) funded by Inria for software support and development. MAN-IP involves two Inria teams: Hybrid and MimeTIC. MAN-IP aims at proposing a common software pipeline for both teams to facilitate the production of populated virtual environments. The resulting software should include functionalities for motion capture, automatic aquisition and modification, and high-level authoring tools.

ADT OpenViBE-NT

Participants : Anatole Lécuyer [contact] , Jussi Lindgren [contact] , Jozef Legény.

The ADT OpenViBE-NT is a 2-year project (2012-2014) funded by Inria for support and development of the OpenViBE software (section 5.1 ). OpenViBE-NT involves four Inria teams: Hybrid, Potioc, Athena, Neurosys - all being extensive users of OpenViBE. OpenViBE-NT aims at improving the current functionalities of OpenViBE platform, and helping in supporting its active and ever growing community of users.