Edge and IoT-supported Intelligent Augmented Reality: Promise, Challenges, and Solutions

Abstract: Mobile augmented reality (AR), which integrates virtual objects with 3D real environments in real time, has been showing outstanding potential in many application domains including education, retail, and healthcare. AR is broadly expected to redefine how we interact with technology and the world around us. Yet current AR falls short of many of the expectations. This talk presents our vision of multi-device, edge computing-supported and Internet-of-Things (IoT)-integrated platforms for next-generation intelligent context-aware AR. I describe shortcomings in modern AR platforms’ spatial and semantic awareness capabilities and identify key gaps that need to be addressed to enable AR to become robust and resource-efficient; I present solutions to some of the challenges, touching on topics in edge computing, machine learning, and resource-efficient simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). I also highlight opportunities associated with close integration of AR platforms and their users and describe a set of solutions for robust gaze-based user context awareness in AR. The talk showcases several applications of next-generation context-aware AR, such as AR-based surgical guidance and AR support for mental and behavioral health and well-being.

Bio: Dr. Maria Gorlatova is a Nortel Networks Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Duke University. Her research is in emerging pervasive technologies, with a focus on next-generation augmented reality and the Internet of Things. She received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and her M.Sc. and B.Sc. (Summa Cum Laude) degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of Ottawa, Canada. She spent two years at Princeton University Electrical Engineering Department as an Associate Research Scholar and an Associate Director of the Princeton University EDGE Lab. Dr. Gorlatova was named among the 10 N2Women Rising Stars in 2019, and has received multiple awards including the 2021 NSF CAREER Award, 2023 DARPA Young Faculty Award, 2021 Meta Research Award, 2023 CISCO Research Award, ACM SenSys Best Student Demonstration Award, ACM/IEEE IPSN Best Research Artifact Award, the IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award, and the IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communications.

*** The event will take place in a hybrid format. The location for in-person attendance will be room 1200 EECS. Attendance will also be available via Zoom.

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Meeting ID:  914 1429 7851

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Zoom Passcode information is available upon request to Shelly Feldkamp ([email protected]).