Imager Facilities

Imager's lab spaces reflect the size and interdisciplinarity of the Imager research group; our space comprises several physical labs, each serving specific research interests and housing state of the art equipment. Our core labs are located in the X-Wing of the ICICS/CS building, find us here.

X660: Ocean View

X660 is our largest and most central lab space. It is home to 25-30 graduate students who work on a wide range of animation, geometry, human-computer interaction, reconstruction, reinforcement learning, and visualization problems. It mostly houses individual student desks and has an amazing ocean view. It also contains shared machines for video editing and 3D modelling, a small library, a small lounge with kitchenette, a printer, and the all important pop pool.

X508 & X521: Multimodal User Experience Lab (MUX)

X508 and X521 together house 18-24 students working on a wide range of human-computer interaction and related research, including haptic, AR/VR, tangible, affective, adaptive, mobile, collaborative, and assistive interaction. The lab includes a toolbench for building haptic displays, a VR prototyping setup, a sound proof living lab for user studies, and lots of other fun toys, ranging from wearables to 3D printers.

X432: Sensorimotor Systems Lab

Sensorimotor Systems Lab (X432) is managed by Dr. Pai and includes 8 seats for grad students and postdocs. The lab has extensive instrumentation and a fabrication area for sensorimotor research, including two work-benches for bench-top experiments. Instrumentation includes 6-axis force sensors, pressure sensors, EMG systems, microphones, video cameras, eye trackers, several haptic devices, a laser scanner, as well as robotic eyes and hands.

306a: Markerless Motion Capture Studio

306a is located in the main ICICS building (West Wing). It features augmented reality devices including augmented reality telepresence research. The room is equipped with a makerless motion capture setup and controlled illumination. By contrast to traditional motion capture equipment, as in X527, this sytem enables capture in natural clothing without any instrumentation of markers or other sensors on the body. The purpose is both to advance motion capture algorithms as well as using it as an input modality for HCI research. Further augmented reality devices are in X521.

Shared Facilities

In addition to the above labs which are used almost exclusively by Imager faculty, we make use of, and in some cases help manage, a number of the shared labs available to all ICICS members:

X727: Usability Lab

The Usability Lab (X727) is an ICICS shared facility where we conduct many of our user studies. The Usability Lab typically hostaslaboratory style experiments, and consists of a number of small rooms, each ideal for one participant and one researcher.

X527: Human Measurement Lab

The Human Measurement Lab is a ICICS shared facility with 10m x 10m high-ceiling room. It houses instrumentation for human body measurement funded by a CFI infrastructure grant (Dr. Pai, PI). Instrumentation includes a Vitus 3D body scanner (Human Solutions), a 10-camera motion capture system (Vicon), several skin measurement instruments (Courage + Khazaka), a treadmill, and a custom skin tissue probe developed at UBC by the Sensorimotor Systems Lab.

X704/X710: Sound and Video

The ICICS Sound Studio (X704) and Digital Video Edit Studio (X710) are also used occasionally for special projects.

AMPEL/ICICS Student Prototyping Workshop

The AMPEL/ICICS Student Prototyping Workshop (staffed part-time) is intended for use by AMPEL and ICICS graduate students, faculty and staff. This resource was opened in 2006 with funding from CFI (via Dr. MacLean) and AMPEL, in response to a recognition of a broad need for access to physical prototyping capabilities by members of departments who do not traditionally include this in their mandate; and the right kind of access for others which do. It has two parts: the Machine Shop containing high-precision CNC, large space mills and lathes; and the Small Tools Shop, a garage-sized modelmaking facility on the main AMPEL floor which contains a broad selection of wood, plastics and metalworking equipment.