The Fantastical Multimedia Pop-Up Project has opened at The Edge, with virtual reality experiences, digital artworks and commissioned pieces exploring 3D printing, Motion Capture and Artificial Intelligence. Alongside work from the Zabludowicz Collection and design duo Unit Lab, University of Bath researchers are presenting the latest in new thinking and research taking place here at Bath.
The exhibition so far has included research from Holly Wilson, Computer Science; Barrie Dams, Dept of Architecture and Civil Engineering; Dr Michael Proulx, Psychology; Alexandros Rotsidis, Computer Science; and CAMERA (Centre for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Applications).
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MORAL DECISIONS BEING MADE FOR YOU?
Holly Wilson, MSc Computer Science, invited visitors to be a passenger in a car moving through a virtual city. Using virtual reality as a tool to explore moral dilemmas, the experiments will feed in to her MSc project on technology and morality.
Holly’s project is being supervised by Andrea Theodorou, PhD Research Programme in Computing, who explained ‘We are investigating how AI influences our moral decision making and how we’d react when the decisions were made for us’
‘Virtual reality enables studies like these to use real life-like situations that would be inappropriate, unethical or impractical to carry out in reality. It is such a fascinating experience. If I had simply been asked the questions of how I would feel in hypothetical scenarios I would not be able to answer so honestly. Sometimes we can’t truthfully know our answers until we really feel we’re in the situation,’ a visitor commented.
COULD 3D PRINTING BE THE FUTURE OF BUILDINGS?
Barrie Dams, PhD Research Programme in Civil Engineering, has been showcasing sculptural structures made of mortar mixes created through 3D printing. These preliminary developments give us a glimpse in to what could be the future of creating and repairing buildings. This project is jointly undertaken by the University of Bath, Imperial College London and University College London, developing a 3D printing method for this purpose.
CAN A PERSON WITH SIGHT LOSS ‘SEE’ AGAIN BY SUBSTITUTING ONE SENSE FOR ANOTHER?
Dr Michael Proulx, Dept of Psychology, is investigating how the brain allows us to see, even without vision.
The vOICe is an interactive demonstration of a sensory substitution device technology. The device allows people to ‘see’ with sound and was invented by Dutch engineer Peter Meijer. The vOICe is now being used by Dr Michael Proulx to aid his investigations in the Crossmodal Cognition Lab on campus.
HOW CAN WE BETTER UNDERSTAND ROBOTS?
Alexandros Rotsidis, Dept of Computer Science, has been researching how Augmented Reality can help people better understand robots. Whilst on display in The Fantastical Multimedia Pop-Up Project, visitors were invited to watch the robot interacting with its environment and partake in the study by testing out a new method for understanding the robots actions.
Andreas Theodorou, PhD Research Programme in Computing explains the project as ‘Investigating how transparency helps us adjust our expectations against unintentional deception’
HOW CAN YOU MAKE A PIG ACT?
CAMERA (Centre for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Application) have recorded a pig moving in every direction, then stitched those movements together so they match an actor’s movements. The pigs can now be found in The Edge foyer with a little help from a HoloLens headset and Augmented Reality.
Watch the video to discover more about the giant pigs CAMERA have brought to The Edge…
Planning your visit to The Fantastical Multimedia Pop-Up Project? Find out more about the exhibition
The exhibition continues until 24 Aug, open 10am-4pm Tues-Sat with interactive artworks, technologies and a showcase of University of Bath research changing throughout the month.