RAM Call for Papers: Special Issue on Extended Reality in Robotics

Extended reality (XR), which combines the real and the virtual worlds, is greatly enhancing interaction possibilities between robots and humans, leading to a paradigm shift where the two entities can intuitively cooperate to perform a shared-target task. Many XR devices are essentially performing the same spatial perception tasks as mobile robots (e.g., visual simultaneous localization and mapping) and thus XR provides an opportunity for robots and the humans using these devices to colocalize through a common understanding of their space, which also enables easier human-robot interaction.

Extended reality interfaces can be realized through Augmented Reality (AR), where an operator’s perception of the real world is enhanced through the superimposition of virtual objects and information, Virtual Reality (VR), where the operator is immersed in a 3D virtual world, or Mixed Reality (MR), where the user can both see and interact with digital content that is superimposed over the real world. A key enabler of human-robot collaboration is the colocalization and shared spatial intelligence that AR and MR can provide.

Original research articles are sought to report recent advances in AR, VR and MR for human-robot interactions in different application fields (e.g., medical, healthcare, manufacturing, inspection in hostile environments, education, entertainment and retail). More information can be found at https://www.ieee-ras.org/publications/ram/special-issues

Deadline for submission: 1 July 2021
Publication of special issue: March 2022