From Pixels to Presence: Tech Behind Spatial Record-and-Replay(Dr. LiKamWa/Rice)

This month, we're excited to welcome Dr. Robert LiKamWa, Associate Professor at Rice University and director of the Experiential Pixels Lab.

What if you could record a moment in the real world, then step inside it, navigate around it, and experience it from entirely new perspectives? Share it with others? Mark it up? Stream it live? The real world is spatial, and our recordings can be too.

Technologies behind 360 video, stereo capture, point-cloud recordings, 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS), and dynamic 4D representations shape how we capture, reconstruct, and replay the physical world. In his talk, Dr. LiKamWa will explore how these technologies work, what makes spatial recording different from traditional video, and the challenges of capturing dynamic environments using distributed cameras.

He'll also share ongoing work from Rice University's Experiential Pixels Lab, exploring spatial record and replay for athletic performance analysis and healthcare education. Together, we'll explore how spatial capture can transform real-world moments into immersive, navigable experiences.

We will, as always, also discuss the latest AR and VR news, and demo the latest hardware and software. Members are welcome to share hardware and software they're developing, give reviews, or speak on topics. If you have something you'd like to present, reach out to us to let us know!