The HIT Lab NZ provides a large number of research and development capabilities available for different research projects and collaborations.
A large number of these different environments are dedicated for Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Tangible Interaction R&D but also for more general empirical or applied CHI related projects.
Equipment is also available for different experimentations or user studies, going from low level development (hardware&software), to evaluation and documentation (e.g. multimedia recording and video analysing).
The HIT Lab NZ is one of the most equipped lab in the world for doing AR and MR Research. The lab owns a large range of HMD (Sony, E-Magin, etc), alternative display technologies (MagicBook Handheld, Sony Vaio UMPC, mobile phone), electronic equipments (Arduino Boards, Proprietary Microcontroller Boards) or different tracking technologies (Intersense Inertia Cube3, GPS, Wii, etc).
Favoring the usage of Computer Vision for AR tracking, the lab offers also a large variety and range of cameras: off the shelf webcams (USB, USB2), PtGrey Firewire camera, semi-professional DV/HDV cameras or stereo camera system (Pointgrey BumbleBee, etc).
VR Research is supported largely by the VisionSpace and the usage in complimentary of the Lab Room environment (hybrid collaborative environment, like integrating video avatar on a 3D world). Additionally, different video projectors (NEC Visual System WT600, HP Digital Projector xb31, Depth Q 3D Projector, Dell 5100MP), 3D devices (Space Navigator, Space SpaceTraveler, Space Explorer) or other tracking system (MotionStar, ART Tracker, Intersense, HiBall Tracker, TrackIR, Flock of Birds) are available.
Finally, the lab is also equipped for multitouch tabletop/screen research (like with NextWindow touchscreen technology), CSCW research:
The HIT Lab NZ has also a large list of professional development and research software available. The HIT Lab NZ is using largely open-source library and software that can be easily access by students during their research work in any platforms (e.g. ARToolKit, Python, Processing, Blender, etc). Complimentary, we have at our availability a large number of commercial and high quality tools like:
Finally, the multi-disciplinary team of the lab (electronic, psychology, computer scientist) will provide a full and broad support all along the development of any of your projects!!
