Presence and Interaction in Mixed-Reality Environments is a call for project in the 6th European Framework Programme (2002-2006).

The objective of the initiative is to create novel systems that match human cognitive and affective capacities and re-create the different experiences of presence and interaction in mixed reality environments. Research should focus on the following:

Understanding different forms of presence, encompassing aspects of perception, cognition, interaction, emotions and affect. Techniques for measuring presence need to be developed taking into account insights from physio- neuro- cognitive and social sciences. The ethical aspects and the investigation of possible long-term consequences of using presence technologies need to be investigated.

Designing and developing essential building blocks that capture the salient aspects of presence and interaction based on the understanding of human presence. These blocks should exploit relevant cutting edge software and hardware technologies (e.g. real time display and high fidelity rendering, 3D representation and compression, real-time tracking and capture, light control, haptic interfaces, 3D audio, wearable and sensor technology, biosensors and biosignals, etc.).

Developing novel systems, able to generate or support different levels and types of presence and interaction in a multitude of situations. The research focus should be on open system architectures for integrating the above building blocks, with open APIs and source authoring tools for programming presence and for designing novel interaction paradigms.

The website is full of interesting material like presentations of different european teams.