GESDA Anticipation Workshop - Future of Extended Reality Research

16:00 - 18:00(2hrs)

Welcome and house rules

Sophie Gilbert

Karthik Ramani

To convincingly merge complex virtual elements with real world environments XR devices will need to understand and interact with their surroundings. These capabilities will be powered by AI that can use various sensor technologies to perceive and reason spatially. However, making this a reality will require significant breakthroughs in computer vision, 3D reconstruction, spatial mapping and geometric reasoning. What are the most promising avenues for progress in these areas and what kind of spatial computing capabilities do you expect to emerge over the next 5, 10 and 25 years?

Daniel Cremers

Creating immersive virtual experiences will require technology that is highly adaptive to the user and their needs. XR interfaces will need to be designed in a way that takes account of the unique ways that humans interact with their environment on both a cognitive and physical level. They will also need to understand the user’s context and adapt in real-time to make interaction frictionless and maintain immersion. What are the gaps in current technologies that prevent effective human-computer interaction and where do you expect to see breakthroughs in the next 5, 10 and 25 years?

Ruofei Du

Andrea Stevenson won

XR technologies will make it possible for humans to interact with AI agents that are virtually embodied in their environments. This could enable powerful new forms of AI-human collaboration, but will require major advances in both the fundamental capabilities of agents and their ability to interact smoothly with the user. Breakthroughs in spatial awareness, gesture recognition, shared control, collaborative intelligence and visualisation techniques will be essential. What are the outstanding challenges in each of these areas, how will they be overcome and what kind of AI-human collaboration will this enable over the next 5, 10 and 25 years?

Steven Feiner

Current XR technology is primarily audiovisual, but this is unlikely to remain the case in the future. Emerging haptic technology promises to boost immersion by adding a tactile element to extended reality. In parallel, advances in olfactory and gustatory interfaces are beginning to unlock new pathways for engaging the chemical senses — enhancing emotional depth, realism, and memory through scent and taste. 2025 Science Breakthrough Radar – Anticipation Workshop – Extended Reality Together, these multi-sensory technologies could profoundly expand the perceptual bandwidth of XR systems. What are the most promising technologies for moving beyond the current audiovisual paradigm, and

Sriram Subramanian

Karthik Ramani

GESDA Anticipation Workshop - Future of Extended Reality Research