Within INTUITION 2008 we are honoured to host a number of keynote speaches. In more detail:

Keynote Speaker: Grigore (Greg) Burdea

Short CV: Professor Grigore (Greg) Burdea is Director of the Human-Machine Interface laboratory at Rutgers University. He is well-known worldwide as expert in the areas of haptics and virtual reality. Burdea's book is now used in more than 100 universities on all continents. His current research interest is virtual rehabilitation, a term he coined with Professor Daniel Thalmann, EPFL, Switzerland. Together they have initiated the "Virtual Rehabilitation" series of international  conferences, which are advancing the state of rehabilitation science and engineering.

Keynote Abstract: Game-based virtual rehabilitation
Virtual rehabilitation is therapy based partly or entirely on VR simulation. These game-like exercises motivate patients to practice long durations without boredom. We will present new game console hardware, software and studies describing virtual reality use in game-based rehabilitation.

Keynote Speaker: Gudrun Klinker

Short CV: Professor Gudrun Klinker, Ph.D. studied computer science (informatics) at the Friedrich-Alexander Universitδt Erlangen, Universitδt Hamburg (Diplom) and Carnegie-Mellon University (Ph.D.) in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, focusing on research topics in computer vision. In 1989, she joined the Cambridge Research laboratory of Digital Equipment Corporation in Boston, MA, working in the visualization group on the development of a reusable tele-collaborative data exploration environment to analyze and visualize 3D and higher-dimensional data in medical and industrial applications. Since 1995, she has been researching various aspects of the newly emerging concept of Augmented Reality, first at the European Computer-industry Research Center, then at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics, and since 2000 at the Technical University of Munich. Here, her research focus lies on developing approaches to ubiquitous augmented reality that lend themselves to realistic industrial applications.

Keynote Abstract: Towards AR-ready Buildings
User and object tracking is one of the key issues in Augmented Reality. In this talk, we will present concepts towards addressing the tracking problem as a fusion of stationary (pervasive) and mobile (wearable) tracking. We describe the necessity to have "AR-ready buildings" that provide standardized communication schemes such that users with arbitrary wearable equipment can connect to such services upon arrival.

Keynote Speaker: Anthony Steed

Short CV: Dr Anthony Steed is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the Department of Computer Science, University College London. He is head of the Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics research group. He has published widely on the research themes of collaborative virtual environments (CVEs), presence, 3D interaction, real-time rendering and mixed-reality. He is a Business Fellow for the London Technology Network, supporting technology transfer between academia and industry. He is also the Director of the Engineering Doctorate Centre in Virtual Environments, Imaging and Visualisation which sponsors over thirty doctoral students. For part of the academic year 2006-2007 he was on secondment to the games company Electronic Arts, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering's Industrial Secondment scheme.

Keynote Abstract: Convergence of Immersive Media: Virtual Reality meets Video Games
Video games are often described as being "immersive" and the term is often meant as a compliment. In contrast researchers in the area of virtual reality systems often distinguish between systems by the "level of immersion" that the system supports. These two uses of the term immersive are quite different, and in discussing how they are different I will describe some key similarities and differences between the goals of video game development, and the goals of virtual reality systems.

Keynote Speaker: Massimo Bergamasco

Short CV: Massimo Bergamasco is Full Professor of Applied Mechanics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy, where he teaches Mechanics of Robots, Geometry of Motion in Mechanical and Biological Systems, and Virtual Environments. He studies how humans are able to learn and perform complex manual tasks. Such a study spans from Biomechanics, Neuroscience and Mind Science and includes new technological developments in terms of robotics systems, haptic interfaces and Virtual Environments. He founded the Perceptual Robotics Laboratory PERCRO. He is the coordinator of the ENACTIVE Network of Excellence which aim was the development of Enactive Interfaces and of the SKILLS Integrated Project funded by the European Union in the framework of the 6th Framework Programme.

Keynote Abstract: Virtual Environments for motor skills acquisition and transfer
The evolution of multimodal technologies has reached a level of realism and interactivity that allow to use Virtual Environments not only for tracking human performance in specific tasks but to transfer human skills. The integration of multimodal systems with a digital model of human training allows to understand the level of the user and to provide him a multimodal feedback for improving its level of skill.
This talk will introduce the concept of human skills providing fundamental concepts of learning curves and training process and how these concepts have been addressed in research. The talk shows the current research performed inside the EU SKILLS Integrated Project that is currently at the second year. The major innovation of this project is in finding a common approach in addressing the transfer of different types of skills, modeling the skills and use this modeling for the creation of multimodal Virtual Environments for achieving this transfer. The talk will focus on the preliminary research results on the SKILLS demonstrators, that are the technological platforms for experimentation on skills transfer and future industrial results of the project. In particular examples from the rowing and the rehabilitation demonstrators will be presented.

Keynote Speaker: Sankar Jayaram

Short CV: Dr. Sankar Jayaram is a Professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and also an Affiliate Professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University. Dr. Jayaram has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1989 and has been at Washington State University since 1993. He was the Associate Director of the ACSYNT Institute of Aircraft Design at Virginia Tech and is currently the Director of the Virtual Reality and Computer Integrated Manufacturing Laboratory at Washington State University. He is also a founder of three start-up companies providing services and products in the areas of virtual reality, CAD customization, engineering software solutions, and CAD data translation.

Dr. Sankar Jayaram has been an active researcher in applying virtual reality methods for engineering design and manufacturing. He was a member of the ISO standards committee for computer graphics standards representing USA and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Dr. Jayaram was a co-founder of the Virtual Environment and Systems technical area for the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineering) organization and headed that technical area in the international DETC Conference. He also served as the first Associate Editor in Virtual Environments for the Journal JCISE, a Transaction of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Keynote Abstract: Virtual Manufacturing – Are we there yet? The Continuing Journey
The question “Are we there yet?” was discussed in the last VIRMAN workshop. The question still remains. Perhaps, Virtual Manufacturing is not a destination but the journey itself. It is not a solution but a tool. This presentation will start with a broad review of the state of the art in Virtual Manufacturing and then drill down into Virtual Reality based Virtual Manufacturing. Integrating these technologies into everyday engineering tools is leading to exciting and innovative solutions. Several key challenges in reaching these goals will be presented using examples from industry and research organizations.