UCL Multi-Sensory Devices (MSD) Group Showcase 2021

Please join us for this introduction to the Multi-Sensory Devices Group and a showcase of their research activities. A mix of talks, demos and presentations. There will be the opportunity for a Q&A followed by an opportunity to meet the team in a virtual social space. 

The event will take place on Zoom. A link will be sent in the registration confirmation email. 

Register for the MSD Group Showcase 2021

• Brief introduction to the group (5 min)

A brief overview of the group, its research interests and introduce the team. 

• Blended demo on multimodal 3D display (25 mins)

The presentation will introduce Phased Arrays of Transducers (PATs), which are electronic devices that control how ultrasound pressure focusses and distributes in space. Using a mix of live demos and videos, we will illustrate the capabilities of these devices to levitate small and light-weight objects. By combining different materials, levitated screens can be created and animated. Free form 3D displays can finally be created by quickly moving our levitated materials. 

Video: Holographic acoustic tweezers | Paper

Video: LeviProps: animating levitated optimized fabric structures using holographic acoustic tweezers.

Video: A volumetric display for visual, tactile and audio presentation using acoustic trapping

• Presentation on Acoustic Metamaterials (25 mins)

The presentation will introduce Acoustic Metamaterials and how they can be used to create spatial sound modulators that flexibly control sound to achieve various applications like acoustic holography, haptics, and levitation. SoundBender is one example of a hybrid system we built that combines phased arrays with metamaterials.

Paper: SoundBender: Dynamic Acoustic Control Behind Obstacles

Video: SoundBender: Dynamic Acoustic Control Behind Obstacles

We will present some of the challenges in building actively reconfigurable metasurfaces and demonstrate manually reconfigurable transmissive and reflective metasurfaces.

Paper: Dynamic Acoustic Control Behind Obstacles Metamaterial bricks and quantization of meta-surfaces

Video: Metamaterial bricks and quantization of meta-surfaces - Long Version

• Presentation on Multisensory Experiences (25 mins)

The presentation will provide a glimpse of our research around touch, taste, and smell interfaces for creating multisensory experiences. We have developed and studied novel taste delivery devices and smell software toolkits. We build bespoke hardware solutions to integrate smell into VR experiences, such as Fly VR – collaboration with Picture this Production and Tree VR – collaboration with New Reality New York. Tree VR has also been implemented at the Gardens by the Bay and demonstrated at international events like the World Economic Forum in Davos. We will present insights into the underlying research on how we perceive smell, the device development journey, and how we can use this knowledge not only in immersive installations but for health and wellbeing applications.(Visit Owidgets website for further details).

Video: Dark Matter: A Multi-Sensory Experience

Video: TastyFloats: A Contactless Food Delivery System (SCHI Lab)

Video: OWidgets Software Toolkit

Video: BA 2119 : Flight of the Future : A virtual reality immersive experience - Charlotte Mikkelborg

• Panel Discussion and end (15 mins)

Chair – Patricia Cornelio
Chat moderator – Christabel Choi

The Showcase forms a part of the CS Expo: 40+ years of UCL Computer Science: