UBIACT

UBIACT

AR ring-based interaction R&D, 2019 – 2023

Smart devices have become an increasingly natural part of our everyday lives. As more and more devices become connected, the question of how we interact with them — and how we understand what is happening around us — becomes increasingly important.

With UbiAct, we explored these questions through the lens of XR. At a time when hand tracking and smart rings were not yet readily available on the market, we were already investigating how XR could enable more natural and intuitive ways of interacting with connected environments.

The goal was to develop a multimodal interaction system for connected home environments together with our research partners. At INVR.SPACE we were responsible for the design and programming of the the AR application. Using the HoloLens, contextual information about connected devices could be visualized directly within the physical space of a kitchen, making their relationships and functions easier to understand. Relevant interaction options could then be displayed and selected through gestures, with an intelligent ring recognizing the user’s movements and translating them into commands for connected devices.

UbiAct allowed us to explore how the digital layer could become a natural part of the physical environment — making connected technology more visible, understandable, and intuitive to use.

The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the research program Human-Technology interaction: Research and innovation that benefit the people.

The consortium consisted of IOLITE GmbH, Technische Universität Berlin, INVR.SPACE and Kimocon GmbH.