Week 5 Activity: Colloquium talk @ Pomona

This week, Pomona College hosts a talk by Parastoo Abtahi, from Princeton University, in Seaver North Auditorium on the Pomona campus. The talk begins at 4:15 PM on Thursday.

For students enrolled in CS Colloquium (CS 195):

• If you’re in Section 1, we expect you to attend the event when it occurs (synchronously). You will need to log your in-person attendance at the event using one of the following messages:
  • Via smartphone: There will be a QR code at the event that you can scan to log your attendance. It will use this website, so it will help to already be logged in on your phone beforehand to make the process smoother.
  • Via paper sign-in: If you don't have a working smartphone, or you have technical difficulties, you can sign in on a paper form at the event. We will manually enter your attendance into the system later.
• If you're in Section 2, our colleagues at Pomona are hoping to record the talk, but it will take a few days to process the recording (assuming it is recorded successfully). We will post the recording here when it becomes available, so please check back regularly to see if it has been posted.

From Haptic Illusions to Beyond Real Interactions in Virtual Reality

Abstract

Advances in audiovisual rendering have led to the commercialization of virtual reality (VR) hardware; however, haptic technology has not kept up with these advances. While haptic devices aim to bridge this gap by simulating the sensation of touch, many hardware limitations make realistic touch interactions in VR challenging. In my research, I explore how by understanding human perception, we can design VR interactions that not only overcome the current limitations of VR hardware but also extend our abilities beyond what is possible in the real world. In this talk, I will present my work on redirection illusions that leverage the limits of human perception to improve the perceived performance of encountered-type haptic devices, such as improving the position accuracy of drones, the speed of tabletop robots, and the resolution of shape displays when used for haptics in VR. I will then present a framework I have developed through the lens of sensorimotor control theory to argue for the exploration and evaluation of VR interactions that go beyond mimicking reality.

About Parastoo Abtahi

Parastoo Abtahi is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, where she leads Princeton’s Situated Interactions Lab (Ψ Lab) as part of the Princeton HCI Group. Before joining Princeton, Parastoo was a visiting research scientist at Meta Reality Labs Research. She received her PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University, working with Prof. James Landay and Prof. Sean Follmer. Her research area is human-computer interaction, and she works broadly on augmented reality and spatial computing. Parastoo received her bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto, as part of the Engineering Science program.

When and How to Attend

• Thursday, February 15
  • Location: Seaver North Auditorium, Pomona College
  • Talk runs from 4:15–5:30 PM

Recording for Section 2

Required Assessment

To receive full credit for attending this colloquium, complete the assessment:

• Assessment

Please do so at your soonest convenience, within 24 hours of seeing the talk.

(When logged in, completion status appears here.)

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