Career Profile
Since I was a child, I have had a passion for Virtual Reality (VR). It all started when watching The Lawnmower Man and The Matrix. Then, the Oculus DK1 was released, and I decided that I would work in VR. Since then I have worked with XR technologies (VR, MR and AR), first during my master and then during my PhD. I’ve explored many facets of XR and related fields, including telecollaboration, interactions, animation, human behaviour, brain computer interfaces, and machine learning. The diversity of XR work makes me believe in its limitless potential. My main interest is using biofeedback and AI to implicitly personalize the users’ experience. With this approach, I dream of, one day, removing the boundary between Virtual and Reality.
Education
Main contributions in the following fields of research:
- Virtual Reality
- Neuroscience
- Major in Virtual Reality
- Minor in Management of 3D Interactive Technologies
4 years of classe préparatoire: undergraduate program in Mathematics and Sciences preparing for the National Competitive Entrance Exam
Core Experiences
Design a Unity application combining XR technologies (Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR)) to blend reality and virtual and improve users' immersion.
Design a system combining brain-computer interface and machine learning to compute users' preferences, and adapt a Virtual Reality application in real-time. Next step will be to bring our framework to consumer.
Design a Unity application simulating a virtual shop with L'Oréal collaboration for immersive devices (1st Project). Evaluate asymmetrical collaboration between different immersive devices (CAVE2 and Headset) showing that users are more efficient (2nd Project).
Additional Experiences
Teaching assistant for the C and C++ programming courses for 1st year bachelor students and a VR course for master students. I have supervised several semester projects for both master and bachelor students. A list of these projects is available under the Supervised Project section.
I worked for Mechdyne at the EVL laboratory in Chicago. For my first project, I implemented a VR application designed for CAVE2 in collaboration with L'Oréal. It was a Unity project simulating a virtual shop where the user were able to grab virtual L'Oréal products. I tested several interactions and different ways to have a virtual shopping cart coupled with a smartphone. My second project was to evaluate asymmetrical collaboration between a user in the CAVE2 and a user with an HMD (HTC Vive).
Collaborative Work with Startup during a competition called CHAL'ENGE AM. Design an interactive tool to fit out former industrial containers in offices or housing.
Working in a pair, we implemented an application for a CAVE (Cave automatic virtual environment) and stereoscopic glasses equipped with an eye-tracking system provided by SMI. The goals were to implement a Unity plugin for the glasses and the CAVE, and to use the eye position of the user to reduce motion sickness by blurring everything but the focus point.
Worked as a construction worker
Data capture (software used : Texas), Handling (receiving and shipping packages, updating and doing inventory), Updating online sites.
Publications
List of my publications in chronological order:
Adapting Virtual Embodiment through Reinforcement Learning
Full Paper in IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
Real-Time Neural Network Prediction for Handling Two-Hands Mutual Occlusions
Full Paper in Computers & Graphics: X, 2019
Reconciling Being in-Control vs. Being Helped for the Execution of Complex Movements in VR
Full Paper in IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), Osaka, Japan, 2019
Real-Time Marker-Based Finger Tracking with Neural Networks
Poster in IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), Reutlingen, Germany, 2018
Real-time Finger Tracking Using Active Motion Capture:a Neural Network Approach Robust to Occlusions
Full Paper in Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Motion, Interaction, and Games, Limassol, Cyprus, 2018
Virtual Zero Gravity Impact on Internal Gravity Model
Poster in IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), Los Angeles, US, 2017
Asymmetric Telecollaboration in Virtual Reality
Poster in IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), Los Angeles, US, 2017
Awards and Grants Received
List in chronological order:
Hasler 2020 - 6 Months Grant
- Project aiming to study reality perception in VR, AR and MR
2019 Teaching Assistant Award
- EPFL School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) rewarded teaching assistant for their outstanding contributions over the past year
Lauz'Hack 2019 - Contest Winner For Bobst Challenge
- Hackaton with different challenges to solve in 24h proposed by different companies: Bobst Challenge - Implement an innovative way to control a machine - We used finger tracker tracking (Leap Motion) and Eye tracking (Tobii) to propose an efficient to control the machine.
IEEE VR 2018 Conference - Honorable Mention for Best Poster
- Since 1993, the IEEE Virtual Reality conference has been the premier international venue for the presentation of research results in the broad area of virtual reality (VR).
MIG 2018 Conference - Student Best Paper Award
- The goal of the Motion, Interaction and Games conference is to bring together researchers from this variety of fields to present their most recent results, to initiate collaborations, and to contribute to the establishment of the research area.
Supervised Projects
Semester projects for both bachelor and master students in computer science I have designed and supervised during my PhD thesis.
Eye-tracking Realtime Interactions
- Design and implementation of an Eye-tracking tool for virtual reality experiments
Procedural Game Based on the Real World
- Develop a game in Virtual Reality taking advantage of tangible elements in the world surrounding the user.
Developing a Game with KatWalkVR
- Develop a Virtual Reality game compatible with the KatWalkVR
World of Passive Haptic Interaction
- Integrate passive haptic feedback in games through tangible objects/structures.
Automatic Grasping in Virtual Reality
- Implement an automatic grasping system to improve interactions in virtual reality.
Joint Center Calibration Tool Combining VR and AR
- Develop a tool to increase the skeleton calibration quality and ease its process for the operator.
Implementation of a Virtual Reality Application to Evaluate a Break in Presence.
- Design an application in Virtual Reality(VR) according to a protocol already established to evaluate a Break in Presence.
Online Sharing Relaxation Space
- Propose an online immersive relaxation space, which focuses on physical social interactions and offers social-bonding prone indoor and outdoor environments during the COVID-19 Context.