The life Laboratory

LIFE was designed as an open, interdisciplinary research space dedicated to collaborating with companies transitioning toward the Industry 4.0 model, supporting them in the delicate tasks of staff training and developing effective corporate procedures within the complex human-machine relationship.

While examining collective behaviors through simulation and studying attentional processes are crucial in human-to-human interactions, they are equally vital when interacting with "intelligent" machines—such as those used in many modern business processes, particularly when they take on anthropomorphic traits. For companies, predicting and anticipating potential impacts on employee well-being and interactive behaviors with such machines is extremely important.

The technologies have been selected, supplied, and installed to be viewed as a unified whole—interconnected and complementary components. The new laboratory features:

• A Virtual Room, allowing users to experience virtual environments and worlds while enabling researchers to observe and analyze their reactions in real time.

• A Motion Capture system that tracks a subject's movements for behavioral analysis or application to virtual models to animate 2D or 3D digital avatars.

• An Eye Tracking system that monitors subjects' eye movements throughout their experiences.

• Augmented Reality (AR) systems, including XREAL AR glasses equipped with Beam Pro, enabling immersive and portable spatial computing experiences.

• The UBTECH Alpha Mini humanoid robot, integrated with an AI chatbot, designed to explore natural conversation, as well as empathetic and educational interactions between humans and anthropomorphic machines.

• A Multimedia Area equipped with a collaborative touch table and touch screen to facilitate content design by researchers. Two next-generation touch tables allowing users to freely explore and share research outputs.