IIT Madras Launches Consortium of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality

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IIT Madras launches consortium is to help create new advanced technologies and applications in VR, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and haptics together.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched a consortium for virtual reality (VR) called ‘Consortium for VR/AR/MR Engineering Mission in India’ (CAVE). The main objective of this consortium is to enable members to create new advanced technologies and applications in VR, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and haptics together.

The CAVE’s mission is to promote engineering of XR and haptic technology development, the institute stated. The consortium aims to become a resource for industry, academia, consumers, and policymakers interested in virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, says IIT Madras.

The key outcomes envisaged from CAVE include developing indigenous VR/AR/MR and haptics hardware and software, setting up ‘VR Superhighway’ or ‘VR Corridor’ where many start-ups and industries would work together. It also aims to promote VR skill training and offer courses to bridge the gap between the global MR and haptic needs.

“As MR is highly interdisciplinary, innovations in this field need a confluence of minds from different fields. While most of the research labs around the world are focusing on either the computer science aspect of VR or the robotics aspect of VR, the centre at IIT Madras is focusing on the fundamentals of VR - perception and illusion. Haptics is the future of VR systems, and all interactions in future VR will be engineered with our understanding of Haptics," IIT Madras said.

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has unveiled a consortium for virtual reality, aimed at creating new advanced technologies and applications in virtual, augmented reality. As a group of academic, industries, start-ups and government agencies, the consortium is being coordinated by the Institute. Titled 'Consortium for Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality/Mixed RealityEngineering--Mission in India" (CAVE)", it would promote best practices, dialogue with all stakeholders, government policy makers and research institutions.

"A strong research group such as IIT Madras is needed for innovations on mixed reality.As an academia-initiated consortium, innovation is given priority, much more resources are available for every member, and together can reach a wider audience", IIT-M, department of applied mechanics, Professor M Manivannan said.

The consortium would aim to become a resource for industry, academia, consumers and policy makers, interested in virtual, augmented and mixed reality. Some of the key outcomes envisaged from the consortium include developing indigenous virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality and haptics hardware and software.

Department of information technology, Principal Secretary Neeraj Mittal, after inaugurating the consortium recently, said such an initiative was very much needed for a country like India. The Centre of Excellence on Virtual Reality and Haptics is the country's first research and product innovation centre for mixed reality and haptics technology, a transdisciplinary centre encompassing several fields of engineering, medicine, psychology and arts, the release added (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Careers360 staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)