The University of Bologna has installed IRIS (Immersive Reconfigurable Interaction System), an immersive visualisation facility at its Forlì Campus. The system, developed in collaboration with ST Engineering Antycip (Antycip), a specialist in advanced simulation, modelling, visualisation and virtual training technologies, is intended to support research and education at the Department of Industrial Engineering.
The IRIS technology allows researchers and students to experience, analyse and interact with complex systems and future concepts at full scale. IRIS can operate as a fully immersive CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment – a room-sized immersive virtual reality system that projects 3D stereoscopic images onto surfaces) or be adapted for large-scale visualisation.
Its research applications include aircraft cabin interior design and passenger comfort engineering, full-scale digital prototypes, Urban Air Mobility, Human–Machine Interfaces, training, and collaborative operations.
Antycip provided and integrated the immersive visualisation system in accordance with the scientific, educational and technical requirements identified by the University of Bologna research team. Immersive simulation enables users to rehearse procedures, compare alternative configurations and study human interaction with complex systems and interface concepts without the cost, time or constraints involved with building each scenario physically.
The facility was funded through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, and forms part of the National Centre for Sustainable Mobility (MOST), Italy’s largest research programme dedicated to innovative mobility.
“This infrastructure further strengthens the exceptional experimental capabilities of the University of Bologna”, said Francesca De Crescenzio, Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering. “It reflects the idea that innovation and tradition are not in contrast with one another; rather, they complement each other.”
