The University of Milano-Bicocca is looking to the future and focusing on the most advanced portable and wearable augmented and virtual reality technologies to improve people’s lives.
The Department of Psychology is inaugurating the laboratories of the new MiBTec (Mind and Behavior Technological Center) and BiCApP (Bicocca Centre for Applied Psychology) Research Centres of Excellence: two state-of-the-art facilities for studying and improving human-computer interaction, combining the technological side and the human factors involved in the use of the latest technologies and representing the future of our way of communicating and interacting with the world.
MiBTec is home to the largest research facilities of their kind: Interactive CAVEs, VR/AR viewers, haptic devices, holographic projectors, multi-user immersive virtual environments (metaverses), measurement of physiological-biometric parameters (such as ECG, EEG, HR, EDA, thermography, motion kinematics, eye movements) and 3D printing.
BiCApp aims to develop scientific research in the field of human interaction with wearable and mobile technologies. Its facilities include HP workstations, a proprietary no-code platform for mobile app development, wearable devices, and test and research labs in the field of user experience and human-machine interface design.
The shared goal of these centres is to conduct research, both basic and industrial, with the aim of developing increasingly usable and intuitive technologies to improve people’s quality of life and their psychological well-being: through the study of the human factors involved (perceptual, cognitive, emotional, linguistic and ergonomic) in the individual’s interaction with the environment, whether it be work, leisure or education, and with the new frontiers of digital technologies.
Both science centres design solutions for research and business, adopting User Centred Design principles applied to the design and adoption of cutting-edge technologies.
The centres’ versatile research tools make it possible to respond to the needs of manufacturing and industrial companies that want to design more effective and intuitive technologies and services.
Companies can use augmented and virtual reality, as well as wearable and portable tools, to define new marketing strategies, new advanced forms of ergonomics and new work processes. For example, simulation can be used to devise efficient and safe work organisation, as well as new production processes, testing worker reactions and interactions when faced with new technologies (such as virtual remote control, Industry 4.0, advanced training).