Hello, I'm Mike Darmitz. I'm the software
engineering research lead here at SIRT.
My background is mainly in game
development and architecture and I've
also spent several years working in the
virtual reality and augmented reality
industries, specifically working on the
development of new augmented reality
headsets.
Some of the main things I'm involved
with here at SIRT are on the software
development side specifically
integrating new technologies with
different platforms and different tools.
For example somebody might want to use
some new technology or SDK with a game
engine such as Unity or Unreal,
but it's currently not accessible in
that way. So I might help architect and
develop the software that would allow
them to use it easily in those game
engines for their purposes. Another
major thing that I work on is actually
integrating new technologies or tools
into experiences. So sometimes a company
may not have the software development
skills or experience to integrate
something into an existing content piece
or game and so I might help with the
architecture and programming required in
order to leverage those tools within
that experience, and actually combine
that functionality with their experience.
Some of the technologies that were
commonly working with these days would
include things such as Virtual Reality
so for example here we've got a gear VR
headset. This might look a little
different than normal because we
actually have this rigged up to work
with a motion capture system. It's an
example of some of the interesting
integration work that we do here at SIRT.
So combining motion capture based
tracking with something like a mobile VR
headset.
For virtual reality we're also working
with some of the newer virtual reality
technologies. For example, here it's a
Windows mixed reality headset. This
actually has inside out tracking which enables
you to track your position without
having to set up sensors and work with
them. Augmented reality in
multiple forms of course is is very
popular these days. We have kind of
the most one one of the most well known
piece of AR technology, the Microsoft
HoloLens. It has an inside out
tracking augmented reality device.
I certainly work with a lot of external
partners. One of the ways we often
work with them is that they combust with
something new and innovative they want
to develop but they might not know the
best technology or platform to use in
order to develop it. So in my capacity, I
might help advise them as to what is
currently available with the latest and
greatest technologies and also a system
with designing and developing tools or
content that creates a vision they
originally had. Some of the
most relevant aspects of the work that I
do involve enabling people to leverage
new technologies in interesting ways
without necessarily having the software
development experience or software
architecture experience to do it
themselves. It's often not very clear how
best to incorporate these new
technologies from a technical
perspective. That's really where I
help out with my role.
