Mixed Reality Innovation Lab – Nimbus Research Centre

Extended Reality

Innovation Lab

Overview

Our Extended Reality Innovation lab (XRIL) consists of the latest Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies to support and grow our innovation capacity and service the needs of Industry. The XRIL is a dedicated, adaptable and immersive environment, covering a range of applications such as: learning, simulation training, measuring operational effectiveness, equipment & facilities maintenance, and safety monitoring, to name just a few.

Nimbus takes a collaborative and co-creative approach with industry clients and research partners. creatively exploring, designing, developing, and testing the latest advancements in Extended Reality.

Immersive Extended Reality experiences can be custom designed, developed, and built by our multidisciplinary team (VR/AR/MR developers, UX researchers, multimedia designers, software developers, systems integrators) based upon requirements.

Key Benefits

Access to the latest state-of-the-art facilities and technologies covering virtual, augmented reality, mixed reality, motion capture, 3D scanning, 360 VR and many more
Trial & test your innovations with the latest advancements in XR technologies
Collaborate in a safe and dedicated Extended Reality Innovation Lab
Access to our dedicated UX Lab and UX research Team who work in close collaboration with XR development team

Develop your ideas from conceptual stage through to fully immersive interactive VR/AR/MR experiences
Access to a diverse multidisciplinary team with expertise covering UX Research, Digital Media Design, XR Development, Hardware Engineers, Systems Integrators
Learning and Training from our webinars and workshops
Get guidance and avail of funding mechanisms

Equipment

The Extended Reality Innovation Lab consists of

All
VR/MR Headsets
Cameras Mics & AV Displays
PCs
Scanners
Motion Capture & Input Devices

HTC Vive Pro Wireless

The HTC Vive Pro is a VR HMD that uses external base stations for its tracking and a PC to provide the processing power. It uses two handheld wand style controllers for interaction.

HTC Cosmos Wireless

The HTC Cosmos provides a high resolution display and “inside out” tracking for VR. It allows a full scale VR set up in smaller spaces, and spaces unfit for lighthouse tracking.

Microsoft Hololens 2

Hololens2 is an immersive Mixed Reality Headset. Hololens2 augments and adds to the world visible through the users eyes, and uses visual hand tracking to allow the user to interact with what they see.It works completely wirelessly, and can be used with various network services.

Oculus Quest

The Oculus Quest is an “All in One” VR HMD that uses internal cameras for its tracking and does not require any external devices for its processing power. It uses two pistol grip style controllers for interaction.

DELL Alienware Aurora R8

Our Aurora R8 machines power every process in the lab. Using i9-9900k Intel Processors, and RTX2080Ti graphics cards, the machines can handle large scale Virtual Production and Construction in Unreal Engine at the highest resolution, ensuring high quality experiences for users in the Volume.

DELL Alienware m17 R2

Our M17 Laptop provides an “on-the-go” service for VR and 3D Scanning tasks. While the 3D scanners are running on battery power, the Laptop allows the scanning process to be completely mobile and transportable.

Panasonic Lumix DSLR Cameras

The G7 is used as our primary video camera for Mixed Reality capture. Providing crisp 1080p output to our broadcast hardware, the G7 can be matched to our virtual cameras to provide accurate Mixed Reality vision.

Insta 360 Pro 2 VR Cameras

The Insta360 Pro2 is a professional grade 360 Degree 3D camera, providing up to 8K resolution 3D video, and 360 live streaming

Razer Seiren X USB Microphone

Two Razer SeirenX microphones provide audio recording options for the Mixed Reality Volume. The condenser mics provide a full area coverage, ensuring clear audio capture from the users in the volume

Blackmagic Design Web Presenter

The BlackMagic Design Atem mini and Web Presenter are 2 components of our broadcast solution. The Atem mini Video Switcher manages the camera feed and virtual camera feeds, and can be used to composite those together for Mixed Reality. The web presenter provides a low bitrate encoding option where network restrictions limit streaming capabilities.

Blackmagic Design Atem Mini

Samsung Flip 55" Mobile Interactive Whiteboards

Our Samsung Flip board is used both as a digital flipchart and whiteboard for prototyping and idea generation in the lab, but also as a large format display for observers while the volume is in use.

Artec Space Spider 3D Scanner

The Artec Space Spider is a handheld 3D scanner based on blue light technology. It is used for scanning small objects with an accuracy of up to 0.05mm.

Artec Eva 3D Scanner

The Artec Eva is a handheld structured light 3D scanner used for scanning medium sized objects with accuracy of up to 0.1mm

Artec 3D Scanning Turntable

A smart turntable for effortless scanning small objects with Artec Space Spider

Rokoko Motion Capture Smartsuits

A motion capture suit lined with inertial measurement sensors that track movement and pass that information wirelessly to a pc instead of an external camera set up.

Motion Capture Finger Tracking Smart Gloves

An add-on to the Rokoko Smartsuit that plugs into the sleeves to provide finger tracking using the same sensors as the rest of the suit

Truss with Lighting Rig

A 4 metre frame to hold up lights and a green screen volume.

Our Lab Setup

Using both the Blackmagic hardware and various Mixed Reality streaming software, video feeds from both the Cameras and the VR Machine are fed into the switcher and composited into a Mixed Reality view.

Trussing System, Green Screen & Lighting Rig

This is a room frame consisting of interconnected structural elements which where motion capture cameras, lighting, microphones, hardware, and sensors can be attached to. The trussing system can be reconfigured according to our industry partners needs or depending on each use case. Tracking Systems (Full Motion capture) & Eye Tracking (Integrated within AR/VR Headsets) for the purpose of tracking and recording the 3D movement of people or objects within the VR/AR/MR innovation lab during simulation scenarios.

Our Services

With the skillsets and expertise that each of our team members bring to each project, along with our new state-of-the-art facility, we can help companies achieve their goals from start to finish with great efficiency.

Our Team

The team consists of UI/UX experts with developers in the AR/VR field as well as mechanical engineers.

Book a Tour of the Lab

To book a tour or to get more information about the XR Innovation Lab contact our XR Team where we would be happy to discuss your industry innovation needs.

Visit the Lab

Nimbus Research Centre, Rossa Avenue, Bishopstown, Co. Cork

Call Us

(021) 433 55 69

Contact Us

xrlab@nimbus.cit.ie

"With a growing demand for VR/AR applications, Nimbus researchers and Industry partners can creatively explore, design, develop and test the latest advancements in VR/AR technologies within our Extended Reality Innovation Lab".

Kevin O' Mahony

Research Fellow