Sugimoto Laboratory - Building Augmented Reality Environments that Merge the Real and Information Worlds

The Sugimoto Laboratory at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, conducts research on augmented reality environments that enable interaction by considering the user's perception and the state of objects being manipulated in the real environment. Real-world sensing technology is a key technology in constructing augmented reality environments. The Sugimoto Laboratory is building measurement systems, including a position and orientation measurement system based on the concept of Display-Based Computing, which uses brightness patterns projected from a projector and optical sensors, and a system that models the real environment using a depth camera. By utilizing both the visible light spectrum and invisible regions such as infrared, it is possible to build an augmented reality environment with dynamic projection and high-precision alignment. Furthermore, we are engaged in various research and development projects. These include building real-world-oriented gaming environments by projecting visuals from display devices like projectors onto small robots using position and orientation measurement technology in augmented reality. We are also developing a system that displays medical images in arbitrary tomographic slices based on the position of a display in the real environment, as well as a remote control interface for a robot equipped with a depth camera that enables operation while anticipating future states.