INESC ID leads European project “iv4XR”
INESC ID leads European project on the use of AI for testing advanced interactive software systems as part of the H2020
The project, called iv4XR (Intelligent Verification/Validation for Extended Reality Based Systems), is led by INESC ID and will be developed by a European consortium, as part of the H2020 programme.
Project iv4XR will develop groundbreaking verification and validation technology for Extended Reality (XR) systems based on techniques from AI to provide learning and reasoning over a virtual world. With this technology XR developers can deploy powerful test agents to automatically explore and test the correctness of a virtual world as they iteratively develop and refine it. This includes testing user experience using socio-emotional AI. The project results will enable developers to conduct automated assessment of the quality of user experience, parameterized by different target groups of users, and different user experience goals.
Nowadays, Extended Reality (XR) systems (e.g. advanced interactive systems, such as, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)) have emerged in various domains, ranging from entertainment, cultural heritage, to combat training and mission critical applications. The development and authoring of such systems is an iterative process that also includes quality assurance to make sure that the resulting systems are correct and delivering a high quality user experience. As the complexity of these systems keeps increasing, the XR industry now finds itself confronting a soaring engineering challenge: paradoxically, XR’s fine grained and high level of interactivity and realism make such systems very hard and expensive to test. The current XR authoring and development toolset poses no XR testing technology beyond rudimentary record and replay tools
that only work for simple test scenarios. The iv4XR project will address this difficult challenge.
This project will be carried out by a team consisting of four companies (large and SMEs) representing the XR industry, three universities, and two research institutes. The team combines decades of expertise in advanced interactive systems, AI, and software engineering.
Consortium includes 9 organizations from eight different nationalities
Besides INESC ID, there are eight other partners, from seven different nationalities (Spanish, Italian, Dutch, English, French, Czech, and Swedish), involved in the project: UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT (The Netherlands), FONDAZIONE BRUNO KESSLER (Italy), JUNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA (Spain), GAMEWARE EUROPE LIMITED (UK), AGI RESEARCH SRO (Czech Republic),THALES SIX GTS FRANCE SAS (France), THALES AVS FRANCE SAS (France) and UMEA UNIVERSITET (Sweden).
INESC ID is represented in this project by the GAIPS – Intelligent Agents and Synthetic Characters Group, which will be responsible for implementing this project. Rui Prada, as project leader, highlights the expected growth of the field and market of XR systems in gaming, training and operational domains. He argues that AI will have an important contribution in the development of complex XR systems and will be crucial to support the new emerging uses of XR.
Project iv4XR is scheduled to start in October 2019, has a duration of 36 months and will be receiving an investment of approximately 3.7 million euros.
Upcoming Events
OLISSIPO Workshop: “How to design a graphical abstract” with Dr. Rita Félix (CNC-UC)
On April 19, the OLISSIPO project will host an 8-hour workshop titled “How to design a graphical abstract” with Dr. Rita Félix, a science communicator, illustrator and designer from CNC Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (Coimbra, Portugal). Registration is free and seating is limited.
Registration Deadline: April 5 | Register here (free but mandatory)
Date & Time: April 19, 09h00-18h00 ( 8-hours)
Where: INESC-ID, R. Alves Redol 9, 1000-029 Lisboa | Room 9 (Auditorium), Ground Floor
Summary: “How to design a graphical abstract” Workshop aims to explain what a graphical abstract is, and give you design tools and tips on how to create a better, clear and engaging graphical abstract. This workshop is tailored to give you tools and improve your graphical abstract, without having to learn how to use a new software program (like Adobe Illustrator). Bring your graphical abstract, share it with the class, work on it and take home a new version.
Short Bio: Rita Félix is a science communicator, illustrator and designer, with life sciences research experience. Currently working as the Institutional Communication Manager and Designer at CNC-UC. She completed her PhD in Neuroscience in 2020, in the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme. After that, she enrolled in a Digital Illustration Specialization Course to further develop her visualization and design skills. Worked as a Scientific Graphic Designer at Science Crunchers, a science communication company, where she developed multiple graphical abstracts, article figures, infographics, diagrams, illustrations, visual identity, logos and webdesign for companies, scientific institutions and Horizon 2020 consortia. More information at https://ritallfelix.wixsite.com/portfolio .
INESC-ID talk: “Rise of the AI-Empowered End User Software Engineer” by Ed Ayers and Andy Gordon (Cogna)
On April 19, INESC-ID will host a talk by Ed Ayers and Andy Gordon from the startup Cogna. The talk is titled “Rise of the AI-Empowered End User Software Engineer” and is organised by INESC-ID researcher Nuno Lopes.
Date & Time: April 19, 15h00 -16h00
Where: INESC-ID, Rua Alves Redol, 9, 1000-029 Lisboa | Room 9 (Auditorium), Ground Floor
Summary:
“What if natural language really is the new programming language? Inspired by the transformation of professional software engineering by generative AI, let’s take the next step: empowering end users. We can boost their productivity with hyper-customized software generated from natural language. This challenge needs research right across software engineering: requirements, architecture, coding, testing, verification, repair, and maintenance. We will survey current progress and open research questions in this exciting new area of programming language research.”
(Photo: Cogna website)