Research · Programme
It is our mission to create the new new interface.
Performance Augmentation seeks to bridge the dissociative gap between abstract knowledge and its practical application, researching radically new methods to connect knowing something ‘in principle’ to applying that knowledge ‘in practice’. We will speed the refinement of new methods to integrate them to be used for polished performance.
Within a narrative in which Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are said to threaten jobs, Performance Augmentation is focused on identifying, developing, and validating solutions that meets the need of modern industry for access to expertise, professional development to a level of mastery; ensuring regulatory compliance at lower cost. Top experts are scarce, time is value, and travel a risk. Immersive and wearable technologies enable us to rethink personal computing to embed knowledge directly into what people experience, enriching the world beyond the visible to allow the creation of novel and powerful forms of feedback on performance.
It is our mission to create the new new interface and extend the performance-relevance of human-computer interaction (HCI). We will research mixed reality interactive content and establish interoperability in order to improve user experience and human performance, while at the same time lowering entry barriers and providing safe routes for R&D investment.
With this research programme, we will pilot novel experience capturing and guidance technology, holographic artificial intelligences, and human performance analytics with real-time applications to respond to the open knowledge and innovation challenges of the 21st century; with increased affective attachment, immediacy, utility, and accuracy.
In a sense, we seek to build, with wearable and pervasive computing, super powers that allow the user to thrive and act at a level of proficiency otherwise only acquirable at greater cost.
Editorial
Test-beds show teachers using eXtended reality to "tailor learning experiences to students"
Academic researchers at The Open University's Institute of Educational Technology (IET) are working with a consortium of partners from across Europe to assist teachers in primary and tertiary education to adopt augmented reality in education.
Editorial
OU’s augmented reality learning ecosystem project wins EU standards+innovation award
The ARETE project received the CEN/CENELEC Standards+Innovation Award 2022 for Best Research Project. Congratulations to IET and the connected consortium of international partners.
Editorial
A hybrid lab meeting focused on Augmented Reality
IET hosts the first face-to-face meeting of the Performance Augmentation Lab (PAL), with researchers presenting on their research projects, exploring mixed reality and technology-enhanced learning.
Thought leadership
Learning in the Metaverse
Professor Fridolin Wild discusses why the time is right for learning in the metaverse to be rolled out into the mainstream.
Editorial
Creating an interactive holographic artificial intelligence
Xinyu Huang explores 3D scanning, 3D reconstruction, motion capture, and natural language processing within her doctoral research at the OU's Institute of Educational Technology.
Editorial
OU's MirageXR learning tool bridges gap in cognitive processing
Mirage XR, the flagship cross-platform augmented reality (AR) app for industrial training and educational course creation.
Editorial
Making science more comprehensible with mixed reality
Yuko Suzuki investigates ways that mixed reality dimensions within a learning context can make science more understandable, during her doctoral research at the OU's Institute of Educational Technology.
Editorial
Remote industry training with augmented reality
High-standard industrial training at scale with AR.
Editorial
Enhancing home learning with smart technology
Innovative digital technology has the capability to significantly improve the way that people learn from home.
Thought leadership
How wearable devices can improve online learning
As Covid-19 has shifted learning online, wearable tech has a greater role to play in education.
