Advanced interaction and virtual/augmented reality: Making interaction with machines more natural and effective

The level of complexity that has been reached by modern consumer electronics (CE) devices is driving both industry and academia to improve existing interface technology by developing innovative solutions that are capable of making interaction with machines ever more natural and effective. Many approaches have been pursued already, e.g., relying on tangible, visual, aural, and physiologic interfaces. For instance, considering input technology, a number of products have been released for the home automation and automotive sectors supporting touch and voice commands, whereas hand and body gestures are being increasingly exploited in entertainment, e.g., to control smart TVs and gaming consoles. Similarly, output methods to make the user experience ever more engaging combine solutions that are currently developed by most of the big information-technology players for virtual and augmented reality based on mobile, wearable, and projection technologies.