The Eurecat technology centre is coordinating the European GuestXR project which has announced an open call for innovative applications and projects which tap new extended reality technologies, mainly virtual and augmented reality tools, to tackle social challenges.
The call invites individuals and organisations from across Europe to submit applications which help to foster education, reduce conflicts between social groups, support psychotherapy, enhance cultural experiences, reduce inequalities or address other social situations by harnessing virtual and augmented reality technologies developed as part of the GuestXR project.
The project has shaped an immersive virtual social environment which “integrates a machine learning agent designed to unlock interactions between participants and minimise conflicts,” notes Umut Sayin, head of the Audio Line at Eurecat’s Audiovisual Technologies Unit.
The project embraces artificial intelligence, neuroscience and social psychology research to foster greater understanding and enhance the experience of participants in shared augmented or virtual reality spaces. “We seek to test applications which drive progress towards a more sustainable, just and fair society anchored in our interactive multi-sensory extended reality system,” comments Mel Slater, GuestXR lead scientist and researcher and co-director of the University of Barcelona’s Event Lab.
The call for applications is now open and will run until 30 September 2023. The application or project selected as part of the open call “will have free access to new virtual and augmented reality technologies and get technical support, training and visibility through the project’s channels for the development of a use case with social impact,” notes Simona Neri, GuestXR project coordinator and project manager at Eurecat.
The GuestXR consortium is coordinated by the Eurecat technology centre together with the University of Barcelona and made up of eight organisations from six countries featuring a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in extended reality, machine learning, artificial intelligence, social psychology, neuroscience, multisensory integration, research ethics and technology transfer.
Alongside Eurecat, four universities (the University of Maastricht, the University of Warsaw, the University of Barcelona and Reichman University), a research institute (Inria) and two businesses (Virtual Bodyworks and g.tec medical engineering GMBH) are also partnering the project.
