Call for Proposals 2020: MIT.nano Immersion Lab Gaming Program

The MIT.nano Immersion Lab Gaming Program seeks proposals for software and hardware research related to sensors, 3D/4D interaction and analysis, AR/VR, and gaming.

MIT.nano, in collaboration with NCSOFT, one of our founding industry members, is seeking research proposals from MIT Principal Investigators for projects that will explore software and hardware technology innovations for teleconferencing, communications, immersive experiences, data visualizations, gaming, digital human representations, and augmented or virtual reality. Proposed research should focus on technical development via experimental, theoretical, and/or computational discovery.

Join MIT.nano Associate Director Brian Anthony and MIT.nano Immersion Lab Director Megan Roberts for an open forum to ask questions about the 2020 Call for Proposals and/or the Immersion Lab.

Thursday, May 14, 2020
3 p.m. – 4 p.m. EST

Read information from the NCSOFT virtual workshop.

Advanced by the power of play! Powering new ways to play!

New technologies and new paradigms of gaming will transform academic research, education, and collaboration by enabling immersive visualization and multi-dimensional interaction. New software and hardware advancements will transform gaming and entertainment, rapidly proliferating new technical landscapes.

Proposals along the entire spectrum of mixed and enhanced reality will be considered, such as collecting data for immersive environments, new techniques for visualization, new approaches for motion capture, new sensors, new mixed reality interface. Imagine how to apply and extend the paradigms of gaming to bring forward new ways to work, learn, and play!

Sample proposal topics could include, but are not limited to, science, technologies, and applications associated with virtual conferencing, communications, immersive experiences, future of gaming, digital human representations, and AR/VR.

Areas of interest include:

  • Techniques for multi-lingual teleconference in including machine translation, speech recognition, and synthesis  (#teleconference, #communications)
  • Approaches for immersive teleconferencing, including AR/VR systems (#teleconference, #immersive_experience)
  • Data visualization of massive multi-modal data (#data_visualization)
  • Approaches for computational modeling or simulating of olfaction (#immersive_experience)
  • Techniques or devices for immersive sound experience (#immersive_experience)
  • Sensors, input devices, or displays for gaming applications (#future_gaming)
  • Techniques for generating hyper-realistic digital avatars - appearance, facial expression, and motion (#digital_human)
  • Approaches for sophisticated mesh matching of human faces/bodies (#digital_human)
  • Detecting, or reducing the sense of dizziness or VR sickness (#AR/VR)
  • Techniques for incorporating emotions in virtual characters' facial animation (#digital_human)
  • Novel approaches for voice-originated communication in extremely noisy environments (#communications)

All proposals for applications of enhanced reality tools or for technologies for creating an enhanced reality experience are welcome. Possible topics include:

  • Software for AR/VR in communication and inference of intent from verbal and non-verbal cues for gaming, immersive conferencing, or enhanced collaboration
  • Software for AR/VR in education for making learning “more sticky,” for distance learning, or for immersive training
  • Hardware for AR/VR on the body, for displays, skin-like haptics, LIDAR distancing, or micro-power technology
  • Hardware for AR/VR immersion environment, holographic monitors, tangible interfaces

The program encourages proposals that involve collaborative research across MIT, and that have potential for sustainability beyond the grant period.

Grantees will also have the opportunity to engage directly (over video and in person) with engineers and scientists from NCSOFT. Proposals are encouraged (but not required) to consider how maximize this opportunity.

See the 2019 NCSOFT seed grant awardees.

Funding

Funding will be provided to support all aspects of the project with anticipated funding levels ranging from $100,000 to $150,000 inclusive of standard overhead. Project duration should be for 12 to 18 months. We expect that software projects will be at the $100,000 level and hardware projects likely more. After project term completion, additional funding may be available to extend promising projects.

Application Process

Applications must include a project proposal and the project budget. Please submit both via email to sense.nano.seed@mit.edu. Any related questions can be raised via this email as well.

Deadlines and Key Dates

  • April 30, 2020: Virtual workshop for NCSOFT technology leaders and MIT PIs.
  • May 28, 2020: Deadline for proposals  
  • June/July 2020: Notification given to applicants 
  • September 2020: Funds become available to award recipients, also subject to RAS review process.

Review, Selection, and RAS Process

The proposals will be reviewed and selected by a committee composed of MIT.nano leadership, MIT faculty, and representatives of NCSOFT.

After selection by review committee, winning proposals will be routed for normal RAS review - under the cover of a Research Project Plan which lists PIs, period of performance, SOW, budget, and standard contractual terms from a Master Research Agreement.

Conditions

  1. Project management: The MIT Principal Investigator (PI) is directly responsible for performance of the work in the proposal and should not serve as proxy for others.
  2. Co-funding: Any anticipated external support for the proposed project must be declared at time of submission. If co-funding becomes an issue during the seed fund proposal/project process, this must be discussed with MIT.nano leadership prior to use of such funds.
  3. Sub-Awards: PIs wanting to include a sub-award should consult MIT.nano leadership before submitting.
  4. Intellectual Property
    1. If the PI has existing IP relevant to the proposed project, this should be indicated at the time of submission.
    2. A PI associated with a lab or center with a membership agreement that specifies preferential access for its members to IP developed by participating PIs, or would in any way restrict access to the IP is ineligible for this award.
  5. Proposal Limit: No researcher may be listed as PI on more than two proposals submitted.
  6. Deliverables: At the end of the grant period, grantees will be required to submit a brief report to MIT.nano highlighting the accomplishments and results of the project, the project’s impact on MIT, publications, and work products by the project, if any. The report should be 4 pages or less in length, and may be used in whole or in part in materials submitted to NCSOFT, and in consultation with the PIs, parts of it might be posted on the MIT.nano website. Grantees will be asked to speak at MIT workshops.

Questions?

Email sense.nano.seed@mit.edu.