Human-Computer Interaction
Ubisoft - Behind the Scenes
We are happy to announce a guest talk from our cooperation partner Ubisoft about what it's like to develop (AAA) games as part of a large team. The talk will take place on 2.6. in the Turing Lecture Hall starting at 2 p.m.
HCI @ ARD Wissen
In the current ARD report 'Mein Körper. Mein (Mehr-) Gewicht' on the topic of body positivity and health risks of obesity, the HCI Chair was able to present the ViTras project, in which the psychological effect of VR/AR is used to increase the effectiveness of obesity therapy and to reduce the relape rate.
HCI Group at the CHI 23 Conference in Hamburg
We were proud to present our work at the CHI conference 2023 right here in Germany.
Save the Date: Digitaltag 2023
On June 16th at 1pm the XR Hub Würzburg hosts the event 'Dive into XR' for the Digitaltag 2023. Among other things, visitors will have the opportunity to experience different tracking solutions in the newly established motion capture lab.
Introduction to GameAudio using the audio middleware FMOD
As part of a guest lecture by Nikolaus Böll, we are pleased to offer an introduction to the topic of adaptive audio using FMOD.
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Open Positions

Student Worker for our medical and biological projects
We are looking for a student worker to help with the development of our medical and biological projects.
Student Worker for ViLeArn more
Unity development and research support
Student Workers for the VHB courses
We are looking for student workers to help develop and administer two VHB online courses
Student Worker for the VIA-VR Project (ELSI)
We have an open position for a motivated student worker in the VIA-VR Project (ELSI).
Wissenschaftliche:r Mitarbeiter:in (m/w/d) für AIL AT WORK Projekt gesucht
Wir haben eine offene Stelle im wissenschaftlichen Dienst für das AIL AT WORK Projekt.
Student Workers for CoTeach Project
Unity development and research support
Student Worker for the VIA-VR Project (HCI)
We have an open position for a motivated student in the VIA-VR Project. Working in this position may involve developing VR applications as well as performing physiological measurements and analyzing them using machine learning methods.
Open Research and PhD Position (TVL E13 100%)
The HCI-group has an open position for a research assistant (and PhD candidate) in the general area of interactive systems and related research projects, e.g., VR, AR, avatars, or multimodal interfaces.
Student Workers for the CoTeach Project
We are looking for student workers to help develop and investigate fully immersive learning environments


Recent Publications

Daniel Götz, Sebastian von Mammen, Modulith: A Game Engine Made for Modding, In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery, 2023.
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@inproceedings{10.1145/3582437.3582486, author = {Daniel Götz and Sebastian von Mammen}, url = {https://downloads.hci.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/2023-FDG-Modulith.pdf}, year = {2023}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, series = {FDG '23}, title = {Modulith: A Game Engine Made for Modding} }
Abstract: A modular game engine facilitates development of game technologies and game contents. The latter includes content creation by the player in the form of modding. Based on a requirements analysis to meet the needs of developers, gamers and modders, we present a novel concept for a fully modular game engine. This concept includes a module system, which allows additional code to be loaded at runtime, and various support systems that simplify the use of the engine and the creation of modules. We present a proof-of-concept implementation, underline its fulfillment of the unearthed requirements, and demonstrate its use.
Sarah Hofmann, Cem Özdemir, Sebastian von Mammen, Record, Review, Edit, Apply: A Motion Data Pipeline for Virtual Reality Development & Design, In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. ACM, 2023.
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@inproceedings{Hofmann_2023, author = {Sarah Hofmann and Cem Özdemir and Sebastian von Mammen}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1145%2F3582437.3587191}, year = {2023}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games}, publisher = {ACM}, title = {Record, Review, Edit, Apply: A Motion Data Pipeline for Virtual Reality Development & Design} }
Abstract:
Tobias Mühling, Isabelle Späth, Joy Backhaus, Nathalie Milke, Sebastian Oberdörfer, Alexander Meining, Marc Erich Latoschik, Sarah König, Virtual reality in medical emergencies training: benefits, perceived stress, and learning success, In Multimedia Systems. Springer Nature, 2023.
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@article{muhling:2023, author = {Tobias Mühling and Isabelle Späth and Joy Backhaus and Nathalie Milke and Sebastian Oberdörfer and Alexander Meining and Marc Erich Latoschik and Sarah König}, journal = {Multimedia Systems}, year = {2023}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {Virtual reality in medical emergencies training: benefits, perceived stress, and learning success} }
Abstract: Medical graduates lack procedural skills experience required to manage emergencies. Recent advances in virtual reality (VR)technology enable the creation of highly immersive learning environments representing easy-to-use and affordable solutionsfor training with simulation. However, the feasibility in compulsory teaching, possible side effects of immersion, perceivedstress, and didactic benefits have to be investigated systematically. VR-based training sessions using head-mounted displaysalongside a real-time dynamic physiology system were held by student assistants for small groups followed by debriefing witha tutor. In the pilot study, 36 students rated simulation sickness. In the main study, 97 students completed a virtual scenarioas active participants (AP) and 130 students as observers (OBS) from the first-person perspective on a monitor. Participantscompleted questionnaires for evaluation purposes and exploratory factor analysis was performed on the items. The extent ofsimulation sickness remained low to acceptable among participants of the pilot study. In the main study, students valued therealistic environment and guided practical exercise. AP perceived the degree of immersion as well as the estimated learn-ing success to be greater than OBS and proved to be more motivated post training. With respect to AP, the factor “sense ofcontrol” revealed a typical inverse U-shaped relationship to the scales “didactic value” and “individual learning benefit”.Summing up, curricular implementation of highly immersive VR-based training of emergencies proved feasible and founda high degree of acceptance among medical students. This study also provides insights into how different conceptions of perceived stress distinctively moderate subjective learning success.
David Fernes, Sebastian Oberdörfer, Marc Erich Latoschik, Work, Trade, Learn: Developing an Immersive Serious Game for History Education, In 2023 9th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN). 2023. to be published
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@inproceedings{fernes2023trade, author = {David Fernes and Sebastian Oberdörfer and Marc Erich Latoschik}, url = {https://downloads.hci.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/2023-ilrn-worklearntrade-preprint.pdf}, year = {2023}, booktitle = {2023 9th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN)}, title = {Work, Trade, Learn: Developing an Immersive Serious Game for History Education} }
Abstract: History education often struggles with a lack of interest from students. Serious games can help make learning about history more engaging. Students can directly experience situations of the past as well as interact and communicate with agents representing people of the respective era. This allows for situated learning. Besides using computer screens, the gameplay can also be experienced using immersive Virtual Reality (VR). VR adds an additional spatial level and can further increase the engagement as well as vividness. To investigate the benefits of using VR for serious games targeting the learning of history, we developed a serious game for desktop-3D and VR. Our serious game puts a player into the role of a medieval miller’s apprentice. Following a situated learning approach, the learner operates a mill and interacts with several other characters. These agents discuss relevant facts of the medieval life, thus enabling the construction of knowledge about the life in medieval towns. An evaluation showed that the game in general was successful in increasing the user’s knowledge about the covered topics as well as their topic interest in history. Whether the immersive VR or the simple desktop version of the application was used did not have any influence on these results. Additional feedback was gathered to improve the game further in the future.
Sebastian Oberdörfer, Anne Elsässer, Silke Grafe, Marc Erich Latoschik, Superfrog: Comparing Learning Outcomes and Potentials of a Worksheet, Smartphone, and Tangible AR Learning Environment, In 2023 9th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN). 2023. to be published
[Download] [BibSonomy]
@inproceedings{oberdorfer2023comparing, author = {Sebastian Oberdörfer and Anne Elsässer and Silke Grafe and Marc Erich Latoschik}, url = {https://downloads.hci.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/2023-ilrn-horst-learning-preprint.pdf}, year = {2023}, booktitle = {2023 9th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN)}, title = {Superfrog: Comparing Learning Outcomes and Potentials of a Worksheet, Smartphone, and Tangible AR Learning Environment} }
Abstract: The widespread availability of smartphones facilitates the integration of digital, augmented reality (AR), and tangible augmented reality (TAR) learning environments into the classroom. A haptic aspect can enhance the user’s overall experience during a learning process. To investigate further benefits of using TAR for educational purposes, we compare a TAR and a smartphone learning environment with a traditional worksheet counterpart in terms of learning effectiveness, emotions, motivation, and cognitive load. 64 sixth-grade students from a German high school used one of the three conditions to learn about frog anatomy. We found no significant differences in learning effectiveness and cognitive load. The TAR condition elicited significantly higher positive emotions than the worksheet, but not the smartphone condition. Both digital learning environments elicited significantly higher motivation, in contrast to the worksheet. Thus, our results suggest that smartphone and TAR learning environments are equally beneficial for enhancing learning.
Tobias Mühling, Isabelle Späth, Joy Backhaus, Nathalie Milke, Sebastian Oberdörfer, Alexander Meining, Marc Erich Latoschik, Sarah König, Virtual reality in medical emergencies training: benefits, perceived stress, and learning success, In Multimedia System. 2023.
[Download] [BibSonomy] [Doi]
@article{muhling2023virtual, author = {Tobias Mühling and Isabelle Späth and Joy Backhaus and Nathalie Milke and Sebastian Oberdörfer and Alexander Meining and Marc Erich Latoschik and Sarah König}, journal = {Multimedia System}, url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00530-023-01102-0}, year = {2023}, title = {Virtual reality in medical emergencies training: benefits, perceived stress, and learning success} }
Abstract: Medical graduates lack procedural skills experience required to manage emergencies. Recent advances in virtual reality (VR) technology enable the creation of highly immersive learning environments representing easy-to-use and affordable solutions for training with simulation. However, the feasibility in compulsory teaching, possible side effects of immersion, perceived stress, and didactic benefits have to be investigated systematically. VR-based training sessions using head-mounted displays alongside a real-time dynamic physiology system were held by student assistants for small groups followed by debriefing with a tutor. In the pilot study, 36 students rated simulation sickness. In the main study, 97 students completed a virtual scenario as active participants (AP) and 130 students as observers (OBS) from the first-person perspective on a monitor. Participants completed questionnaires for evaluation purposes and exploratory factor analysis was performed on the items. The extent of simulation sickness remained low to acceptable among participants of the pilot study. In the main study, students valued the realistic environment and guided practical exercise. AP perceived the degree of immersion as well as the estimated learning success to be greater than OBS and proved to be more motivated post training. With respect to AP, the factor “sense of control” revealed a typical inverse U-shaped relationship to the scales “didactic value” and “individual learning benefit”. Summing up, curricular implementation of highly immersive VR-based training of emergencies proved feasible and found a high degree of acceptance among medical students. This study also provides insights into how different conceptions of perceived stress distinctively moderate subjective learning success.
Florian Kern, Jonathan Tschanter, Marc Erich Latoschik, Virtual-to-Physical Surface Alignment and Refinement Techniques for Handwriting, Sketching, and Selection in XR, In 2023 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), pp. 502-506. 2023.
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@inproceedings{10108564, author = {Florian Kern and Jonathan Tschanter and Marc Erich Latoschik}, url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10108564/}, year = {2023}, booktitle = {2023 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW)}, pages = {502-506}, title = {Virtual-to-Physical Surface Alignment and Refinement Techniques for Handwriting, Sketching, and Selection in XR} }
Abstract: The alignment of virtual to physical surfaces is essential to improve symbolic input and selection in XR. Previous techniques optimized for efficiency can lead to inaccuracies. We investigate regression-based refinement techniques and introduce a surface accuracy eval-uation. The results revealed that refinement techniques can highly improve surface accuracy and show that accuracy depends on the gesture shape and surface dimension. Our reference implementation and dataset are publicly available.
Tobias Brixner, Stefan Mueller, Andreas Müller, Andreas Knote, Wilhelm Schnepp, Samuel Truman, Anne Vetter, Sebastian von Mammen, femtoPro: virtual-reality interactive training simulator of an ultrafast laser laboratory, In Applied Physics B, Vol. 129(5). Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023.
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@article{Brixner_2023, author = {Tobias Brixner and Stefan Mueller and Andreas Müller and Andreas Knote and Wilhelm Schnepp and Samuel Truman and Anne Vetter and Sebastian von Mammen}, journal = {Applied Physics B}, number = {5}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs00340-023-08018-7}, year = {2023}, publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, title = {femtoPro: virtual-reality interactive training simulator of an ultrafast laser laboratory} }
Abstract:
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