Human Centered Digital Reality Research Center

Home

The laboratory’s R & D & I focus encompasses

augmented reality,
cognitive sciences,
and artificial intelligence.

It contributes to scientific fields such as the Internet of Digital & Cognitive Reality, the Cognitive aspects of Virtual Reality, the challenges of the cognitive cyber‐physical system and cognitive neuroscience. The laboratory’s scope extends from educational to corporate and industrial applications, with a strong emphasis on theoretical science. We believe that the most significant breakthrough in IT evolution lies in the 3D virtualization-based Digital Reality combined with AI, enhances human capabilities with new artificial and natural cognitive abilities. This transformation has the potential to reshape personal, social, and corporate/industrial aspects of life. We are excited to contribute to this phase of IT evolution through the development of new theories, concepts, and solutions.

Further, we annually organize IEEE International Conferences and publish special journal issues on these topics. Our motivation is to educate engineers and young researchers to become proficient in all aspects of this technology and its related business, enabling them to implement, apply, and innovate in this emerging field.

HDR has the following laboratories and research groups:

Operator 4.0 Laboratory – https://www.operator4.com/
3D virtual and Digital Realities Research Lab
Bioelectric Brain Imaging Laboratory
Complex Systems Monitoring Research Group – https://www.abonyilab.com/

Science

The research activity of the HDR research centre is characterised by the following conceptual approaches

1 Cognitive and AI aspects of 3D Virtual & Digital Reality

The laboratory investigates the next phases of IT evolution characterized by a transition from digital environments based on 2D graphical user interfaces (e.g. widows, images, 2D widgets) to 3D spaces which represent a higher-level integration of VR/AR/MR/Metaverse/IoD systems, human spatial cognition, the 2D digital world (i.e. Web 2.0, Web 3.0) and artificial intelligence (AI). A primary focus of the laboratory is how this transition simultaneously makes use of and augments human capabilities, including psychological, cognitive and social capabilities – especially capabilities linked to a deeper understanding of geometric, temporal and semantic relationships. By extension, the laboratory further investigates the effects of these changes in human and AI capabilities with respect to a variety of sectors including education, commerce, healthcare, industrial production and others.

The laboratory investigates Virtual Reality in a higher level context of Digital Reality, that is a high-level integration of virtual reality (including augmented reality, virtual and digital simulations and twins), artificial intelligence and 2D digital environments which creates a highly contextual reality for humans in which previously disparate realms of human experience are brought together. Therefore the laboratory encompasses not only industrial applications, but also investigates productivity in all corners of life (both physical and digital), to contribute to the development of new social entities and structures, such as 3D digital universities, 3D businesses, 3D governance, 3D web-based digital entertainment, 3D collaborative sites and marketplaces.

2 Cognitive Science and Augmented Reality in Industry 5.0

Based on the recent research about the applicability of cognitive science in the field of industrial challenges, the importance of analyses of the cognitive load of human workers is highlighted. The Cognitive Operator 4.0 and the cognitive automation strategy are already given the baselines for this field. Nevertheless, the defined cognitive cyber‐physical system still has a lot of challenges. We are planning goal-oriented experiments to measure the skills and the current cognitive loads of the human workers paired with the HRV analyses. The work-related stress is also considered an indicator of human performance.

The workinstruction and the real-time information providing is a crucial elements of the human support in the industry. The Augmented Operator, as a part of the Operator 4.0 concept proves the basic principals and applications for that solutions. The efficiency of the given instructions can be measured based on the cognitive and stress analyses of the human workers. These kind of information support the human-machine interfaces as give a better situation awareness for both sides (even for humans and machines).

3 Bioelectric signatures of human cognitive processing

Our research focuses on uncovering and understanding the processes involved in the human brain during various cognitive tasks. Using high-density, non-invasive EEG measurements, we study the bioelectric signatures of visual decision-making, language comprehension (work processing), aesthetic appreciation of art and perception of the 3D world, among others. We also work on the development of new methods for different processing and analysis steps of EEG data processing, such as artifact removal, signal decomposition, time-frequency analysis and brain connectivity network analysis, and develop massively parallel implementations of these algorithms to achieve very short data analysis times and in some cases real-time processing capabilities.

Education

The HDR Research Centre take part in university education in the following fields

Development of Virtual and Animated 3D environment
3D Virtual and AI solutions for Business, Industry 4.0 and Gaming
Cognitive aspects of 3D Virtual and Digital Reality
Spatial AI for 3D Virtual Solutions
3D scan of objects and outdoor environment
3D Virtual and AI tools of Industry 4.0
Human activity monitoring (physiological and physical)
Biomedical Signal Processing
EEG Measurement and Data Analysis
Brain Connectivity Network Analysis

Projects

2023-2024: “Game On! Opportunities for Serious Games Development in Children’s Health, Environmental Education & Language Learning” project (Hungarian- Austrian Bilateral Science and Research 2021-1.2.4-TÉT-2021-00007)
2020-2024: COST Action CA19142, Leading Platform for European Citizens, Industries, Academia and Polcymakers in Media Accessibility (LEAD_ME) https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19142/
2020-2024: COST Action CA19104, Advancing social inclusion through technology and empowerment (a-STEP) https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19104/
TKP2021-NVA-10 – Extend the Operator 4.0 concept
2019-2022: Isolating the key component processes of decision making in high-resolution human EEG, Research partner: Dr Simon Kelly and his research group, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 2019-2.1.11-TÉT-2019-00069
2023: Large-scale EEG Workflow Execution on Multi-GPU Systems, SLICES-SC EU Research Infrastructure Project
2020-2024: COST Action CA19122, European Network For Gender Balance in Informatics (EUGAIN): https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA19122/
HUN-REN-PE Complex Systems Monitoring Research Group
HUN-REN-PE Komplex Rendszerek Figyelemmel Kísérése kutatócsoport

Staff

Senior Research Fellow
Prof. János Abonyi D.Sc
Prof. Cecília Sik-Lányi D.Sc.
Prof. Péter Baranyi D.Sc.
Prof. Zoltán Juhász
Tamás Ruppert Ph.D.

Research Fellow
Tibor Guzsvinecz Ph.D.
Judit Szücs Ph.D.
Éva Orbán-Mihálykó Ph.D.

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Mohammed F Issa Ph.D.

International Ph.D. student group
Tuan-anh Tran
Abdulrahman Khalid
Iffah Syafiqah Suhaili
Zeyu Wang
Jinat Ara
Bence Halmosi
Mochammad Hannats Hanafi Ichsan
Hanan Mohammed Namrouti
Patrícia Szabó

International Partners

Prof. Yeung Yam, Shenzen Research Institute of The Chinese University of Hong Kong
https://www.cuhk.edu.cn/en/research

Dr. Andreas Aristidou, Graphics & Extended Reality Lab, University of Cyprus
http://andreasaristidou.com/

Prof. David Brown, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK Computing and Informatics Research Centre, Interactive Systems Research Group
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/science-technology/david-brown

Assoc.prof Renáta Cserjési, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary E-MIND Research Laboratory
https://elteneuropsychology.wixsite.com/emind

Prof. Albert „Skip” Rizzo, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA Institute for Creative Technologies, Medical Virtual Reality Research Laboratory https://ict.usc.edu/about-us/leadership/research-leadership/albert-skip-rizzo/

Prof. Ilona Heldal, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway
https://www.hvl.no/en/employee/?user=Ilona.Heldal

Prof. Patrice L. (Tamar) Weiss, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Laboratory for Innovations in Rehabilitation Technology https://lirt.haifa.ac.il/lirt-people/academicstaff

Dr. Orly Lahav, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
School of Education https://english.tau.ac.il/profile/lahavo

Prof. Dominique Archambault, University Paris 8, Paris, France
https://ufr-erites.univ-paris8.fr/Presentation-1153
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=ijU4FjIAAAAJ&hl=fr

Prof Zhigeng Pan, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhigeng-Pan

David Kostolani, TU Wien
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Kostolani

Peter Thorvald
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter-Thorvald

Päivi Heikkilä
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paeivi-Heikkilae-2

Susanna Aromaa
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Susanna-Aromaa

Sandra Mattsson
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sandra-Mattsson