I am a researcher in the EPIC (Extended Perception Interaction and Cognition) team at Microsoft Research. In my research I try to advance Spatial Computing by building new devices and experiences. All while studying human behavior, perception and neuroscience.
2020 Events
IEEE AIVR, Special Session Avatars, chair, December 14-18, 2020 CMU Africa, Invited Lecture, December 9th, 2020 MSR Webinar, “Avatars: Finding a sense of self and others in the virtual world”, December 9th, 2020 ACM SUI, Spatial User Interaction, Keynote, October 30, 2020 Harvard in Tech, Panelist, October 29, 2020 Future of Social AR, CSCW, organizer, October 17-18, 2020 BNEW invited speaker, October 6-8, 2020 ACM Spatial User Interaction SUI, Keynote, October 2, 2020 ACM Symposium on Applied Perception, chair and speaker, September 17-18 2020 IDEAL UPC Keynote, September 8, 2020…
I am a researcher in the EPIC (Extended Perception Interaction and Cognition) team at Microsoft Research. In my research I try to advance Spatial Computing by building new devices and experiences. All while studying human behavior, perception and neuroscience.
2020 Events
IEEE AIVR, Special Session Avatars, chair, December 14-18, 2020 CMU Africa, Invited Lecture, December 9th, 2020 MSR Webinar, “Avatars: Finding a sense of self and others in the virtual world”, December 9th, 2020 ACM SUI, Spatial User Interaction, Keynote, October 30, 2020 Harvard in Tech, Panelist, October 29, 2020 Future of Social AR, CSCW, organizer, October 17-18, 2020 BNEW invited speaker, October 6-8, 2020 ACM Spatial User Interaction SUI, Keynote, October 2, 2020
ACM Symposium on Applied Perception, chair and speaker, September 17-18 2020 IDEAL UPC Keynote, September 8, 2020
Unity3D, XR hangouts, August 14, 2020
Cornell University, Invited Seminar, August 11, 2020 Snap Creative Challenge AR Storytelling, organizer, June 18, 2020
BIO Immersive Medicine of the Future panel, June 10, 2020 Frontiers in VR Editors Seminar, June 4, 2020 UW Reality Lab lecture, April 21, 2020 IEEE VR 2020 – Atlanta, March 20-27, 2020 (presenting) Tech Spirit – Barcelona, February 25, 2020 (speaker)
Bio
I graduated top class in Computer Science from URL, Barcelona 2008 and completed a Master in Biomedical Engineering in a join program between Universitat de Barcelona and Tsinghua University in China 2010. In 2014 I earned my PhD in Immersive Virtual Reality and Clinical Psychology under the supervision of Prof. Mel Slater at the EVENT-Lab, affiliated as a visiting student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MediaLab. During my PhD I produced anarchic hand experiences into healthy humans (link), as well as stabbed their virtual hands (link). Altogether to explore how our brain perceives our body and search the underlying mechanisms that determine what is real and what is not. Technologically I was using real-time computer graphics, HMDs and body tracking systems.
Over the years my work has evolved in three ways> (1) to continue exploring the wonders of VR and spatial computing; (2) to create new devices and explore what these technologies do to our perceptual systems, most prominent is my work exploring new haptic devices and spatial audio; and (3) to understand how do people behave at large when presented with technology. In that context I have an on-going collaboration with the Soundscape Team, and I did a post-doc at the University College London’s Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics (UCL-VECG) group where I explored obedience to authority paradigms, and whether people would electroshock an avatar (Scientific American).
My interest on impacting larger audiences made me pivot from academia into industrial laboratories and after having been at the MIT, Tsinghua, UB and UCL; I created and led an immersive tech lab at Airbus Group; joined the Startup Traity working on the creation of reputation standards for a user base of 4.5M. And since 2016 I am with Microsoft Research.
Despite the shift into industry, I am still deeply involved in the scientific community, where I often act as expert advisor to governments (US NSF, Canada NSERC, European Commission). As well as published, served as program committee, chair, and reviewed in multiple venues (IEEE & ACM conferences and transactions, Nature Publishing group, Science Robotics). I am also very keen at disseminating my views on how technological companies and industrial labs should run. As well as the implications of technologies for the general public. In that role I have been invited to write several commentaries on my work for Scientific American and done keynotes and interviews with multiple Media outside of the VR world (Bloomberg, GEN summit). Which also gained me some awards as junior technology leader to follow (Business Insider ES 2019 MAS Technology Award 2019).
Professional Activities
Peer Reviewer: IEEE VR, ACM Siggraph, SIG CHI, ACM UIST, ACM MM, ACM TEI, ACM TOCHI, IEEE ISM, IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, IEEE Transactions on Haptics, Frontiers in ICT, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Plos One, Experimental Brain Research, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems; Review Editor for Virtual Environments at Frontiers in ICT and Frontiers in Robotics and AI
Committee: Associate Editor Frontiers in VR (2020), ACM SAP Conference and Program Chair (2019, 2020), ACM Siggraph VRCAI (2019), IEEE VR (2019), IEEE VR (2018), Technical Program ACM MM (2017), Technical Program ACM MMSys Special Session on Immersive Experiences (2017), Panelist IEEE VR (2012), VERE Symposium Chair (2011), Workshop BCI Interaction (2009)
Expert Evaluator: US National Science Foundation (since 2018); Canada NSERC (since 2019); European Commission (since 2016); Expert – Los 100 de COTEC (since 2017); Bind 4.0 Industry accelerator (2018).
Visitors, Interns & Students
2020 Christopher Berger – Visiting Researcher, Caltech Ryo Suzuki – Intern University Colorado
Zelia Egan – Highschool Intern – Lakeside School
2019 Antonella Maselli – Intern University of Maastricht – U Santa Lucia, Roma Brian Cohn – Intern University Southern California
2018 Parastoo Abtahi – Intern, Stanford University Anthony Steed – Visiting Researcher, University College London
Naomi Layton – Highschool Intern – Lakeside School
2017 Christopher Berger – Visiting Researcher, Karolinska Institutet Baihan Lin – Visiting Student, Columbia University
2015 (at Airbus) Jacob Thorn – Intern, University College London Rodrigo Pizarro – Intern, Universitat de Barcelona
2018 Infinity Box Theatre Project – Pacific Science Center, October 12-14, 2018 (scientist) World VR Forum – Crans-Montana, Switzerland, June 7, 2018 (panelist) GEN Summit – Lisbon, Portugal. May 31, 2018 (panelist) Sota – Bind 4.0 – Bilbao, Spain. May 30, 2018 (keynote)
2017
Stanford University. November 28, 2017 (seminar + visit) Society for Neuroscience 2017. Washington DC, November 11-15, 2017 (presenting) Grace Hopper Celebration 2017, Orlando, October 4-6, 2017 (Microsoft Ambassador) Microsoft Faculty Summit 2017. The Edge of AI. July 17-18, 2017 (panel session organizer) EXF17 Experience Fighters, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain, “Illusions in Virtual Reality”, June 21-22, 2017 (invited speaker, 500 attendees) Women in VR, Innoarea, ValenciaLab, May 3, 2017 (invited speaker) e3iVR, University of Wisconsin, Madison WI, USA, “Ethics in the investigational and interventional uses of immersive Virtual Reality”, April 26-27, 2017 (invited speaker)
Jointly with Prof. Tabitha Peck we put forward a Standard questionnaire for Avatar Embodiment. The final questionnaire comprises 25 prevalent embodiment questions used over the years across world wide laboratories.
Oxymorons of haptics might be the new normal Consumer virtual reality (VR) systems can immerse users in wonderous virtual worlds, rich in sights and sounds. However, how many times have you reached for an object in VR or augmented reality…
Cardi♥lens was selected as a finalist of the prestigious awards on the Wearable Tech category. Honoring the new hardware that revolutionizes the convenience, comfort, functionality, efficiency, and fashion of having a device literally “on you".
I was part of the 17 researchers that put forward predictions for 2017 and 2027. My predictions about the future of Virtual Reality were widely covered by the tech media including TechCrunch, GeekWire, The Verge, Fortune...
I was invited to participate in the lectures of the VR Specialization Coursera that Prof. Pan Xueni & Prof. Marco Gillies of Goldsmiths - University of London have put together.
