Kuggen Medialab is a research lab run by the Interaction Design Unit at Chalmers University of Technology (at Lindholmen, Gothenburg, Sweden). It is primarily serving researchers and students at the Interaction Design Division, but other researchers and students at Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg can also be welcomed upon agreement. The media lab is established and managed by Studio Director Thommy Eriksson (thommy@chalmers.se). The current facility was built in 2012, and earlier versions of the lab dates back to 2001.

For current research at the media lab, see further down the page.

Examples of what can be done in Kuggen Medialab

In the media lab you can for example:

Test and/or build VR applications
Shoot and edit videos or movies
Produce 2d or 3d animation, including digital visual effects
Record and edit design fiction projects
Record interviews or lectures
Conduct usability tests, including documentation
Watch movies or demo visualization applications

Hardware facilities

Physically, the Kuggen Medialab is a room in Kuggen, with workstations for up to five users. It is sound proofed, and sound dampened. It is highly flexible, designed for many different kinds of media production and research activities.

The lab has a wide set of hardware that is available for borrowing (contact thommy@chalmers.se), either in the lab or in the field. Here is a sample of the available equipment

Green screen
Studio light rigs
Video cameras
Sound recorders
Camera tripods
VR headsets (Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S and Quest 1, and Quest 2)
AR headsets (Aryzon and Zapbox)
360 video cameras
Depth sensor cameras
Audio effects library
Various complementary hardware such as Kinects, speakers, cables, screens etc.

Software facilities

These are some of the applications that are accessible on the workstations:

Maya (3d modeling and animation)
Sketchup (3d modeling)
Camtasia (lecture recording and video editing)
Adobe Premiere (video editing
Adobe After Effects (for compositing/visual effects)
Adobe Photoshop
Unreal Engine (VR and game development)
Unity (VR and game development)

VR/AR research at Kuggen Medialab

During the years the media lab have hosted and supported a range of different research and student projects exploring visualization, visual effects in documentary movies, virtual labs, and ICT and learning. Currently we emphasize research and teaching concerning virtual reality (VR). We primarily work with two fields within VR research.

VR for teaching and learning
VR for remote collaboration.

Research projects

CityAirSim – visualization of simulated air quality in a city street using VR, and field tested with 200 gymnasie students
Rymdlust – an interactive, 3d animated science documentary for the local science center Universeum
Solen, månen och den röda planeten – VFX shots showing astronomical events for a TV series for school children produced by Utbildningsradion
Via Tecta – interactive visualization of archeological reconstruction of a Roman temple, on commision by Swedish Institute in Rome
BioHOPE – a virtual chemical lab developed together with Stanford University, and field tested with 100 gymnasie students.

Master thesis reports

“Designing a Platformer Game in Virtual Reality – Design and UX Challenges” by Faraz Rashid
“Design opportunities of the NASA Solar System Treks website” by Premthip Yaowapatsiri
“Meetings applications in Virtual Reality – An evaluation study of applications from a meeting perspective” by Linnea Palmgren Söderström and Molly Zelmerlöw Sigander
“Implementation of a low-cost volumetric video pipeline from capture to game engine import” by Fausto Ivan Zamora Arias
“The effects of different types of HUDs on Cybersickness” by Muhammad Ashar Imtiaz
“Designing Mobile Augmented Reality Board Games – Exploring the Design Space With Regard to Player Engagement” by Ludvig Arlebrink and Christopher Black
“Creation of a virtual reality experience for the virtual conservation of the Flamman theater using Unreal Engine 4” by Fausto Ivan Zamora Arias
“Development of immersive experience for the reconstruction of a vintage cinema theatre” by Petra Beczi
“Cultural Heritage Reconstruction of the Cinema Flamman Using VR” by Joakim Burman, Jonathan Eksberg, Mirai Ibrahim, Tommi-Roy Karlsson, Johan Pettersson, and Adam Rohdell
“Mapping the Unknown: Café Glaser-Müller – An exploratory creative process for an interactive volumetric video experience” by Budi Sugianto Jap
“Examining the effects of a nature experience in virtual reality” by David Granqvist
“Presence when interacting with Graphical User Interfaces in Virtual Reality – A Qualitative Study of Tutorials in Virtual Reality Games” by Robin Lilius-Lundmark and David Torbjörnsson