INDUSTRY WATCH
THE SENSORIMOTOR LAB SUPPORTS MANY NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR RESEARCH AND THE UNIVERSITY OF BERN ’ S GRADUATE STUDENTS .
The University of Bern is a comprehensive university founded in 1834 . The university offers more than 150 bachelor ’ s , master ’ s and doctoral degrees in varying fields across eight faculties , including human sciences . Situated within the Swiss capital of Bern , the University of Bern is home to over 19,000 students , making it the third-largest university in Switzerland .
The Institute of Sport Science is part of the Faculty of Human Sciences at the University of Bern . At the Institute of Sport Science , sport is conceptualised as an interdisciplinary subject . The research interest focuses on social and behavioral aspects of sport and exercise in various fields of practice , including school sports , leisure and health sports , and competitive sports .
The Institute of Sport Science has been developing the Sensorimotor Lab , an infrastructure designed to provide unique insights into human perceptual and motor behavior in complex naturalistic environments . “ Since 2015 , we have been developing a Virtual Reality infrastructure specifically targeting the study of human motor behavior in sports and exercise ,” said Dr Ralf Kredel , Senior Lecturer at the University of Bern ’ s Institute of Sport Science . “ The University of Bern has many students that are highly proficient in sports , which allows us to closely monitor and study elite motor behaviour while playing sports or exercising in our Sensorimotor Lab .”
Dr Kredel added : “ The Institute of Sport Science utilises the Sensorimotor Lab to research human motor behavior from a basic scientific perspective and explain phenomena manifesting in applied sports . We have sports associations and athletes come to us with individual and unique questions , which we try to answer utilising our team and technology resources . As researchers , we are interested in understanding the general mechanisms behind these specific problems . For example , a specific trampolining skill is fascinating because it is quite technical and difficult to learn . Understanding the movement ’ s mechanics and solving the problems the athlete encounters when acquiring or perfecting this specific skill can lead to understanding generic aspects of motor learning .”
The University of Bern ’ s Sensorimotor Lab contains a CAVE ( computer automatic virtual environment ), including full-body motion tracking , integrated mobile eye-tracking , spatial sound rendering and 12 high-resolution projectors to project an immersive visual environment on the walls and floor of the large room . Initially introduced in 2015 , the University of Bern ’ s CAVE was driven by in-house-developed software for projection blending and warping and displaying content .
“ Afterwards , we integrated Scalable Display Technologies to blend the image between multiple projectors in the Sensorimotor Lab ,” said Dr Kredel . “ Before Scalable , we used self-developed software to manually calibrate the projection . We engaged a programmer who developed an entire custom concept to drive the CAVE , which we used for three years . Still , we wanted to find a more efficient way of producing and managing the content .”
“ Scalable checked all of our boxes ,” said Dr Kredel . “ We needed to have a system that streamlined the dayto-day service operations in the CAVE , as I ’ m currently the only person who is maintaining , developing and managing the content . So , I have very limited time for service operations and was looking for a highly automated solution . Scalable ’ s unique feature set provided us with everything we needed . Its onetouch calibration is ideal for us because it significantly reduces the downtime for maintenance – and it ’ s
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