Visual computing solutions and its transfer into research and industry, with focus on data analytics, human-centered AI, simulation, virtual reality, and digital twins.

More than ever, economic growth and scientific discovery depends on the ability to turn data into comprehensible knowledge for enabling optimized decision-making and workflows in all kinds of fields, from industry over medicine and life sciences to space exploration. For this, visual computing is a key enabling technology, combining human abilities such as perception and creativity with the strengths of computers and innovative visualization techniques for translating data into images and information. Within the last 20 years, VRVis has already developed tailor-made methods and applications for specific requirements of different fields, based on visual technologies such as:

• interactive and web-based visual data analytics, e.g. for industry 4.0, energy industry, automotive industry, economy, and science
• digital twins, e.g. for large infrastructure projects, geology, tunneling, space exploration
• hydrodynamic simulations for flood management and water sensitive urban planning
• computer vision, e.g. for medicine, life sciences, cultural heritage
• virtual reality, augmented reality, extended reality, e.g. for training of all kinds, pharmaceutical industry, automotive industry, architecture, military mission planning
• artificial intelligence, with a focus on interpretable and explainable AI, e.g. for medicine and quality assurance.

As a COMET Competence Center, VRVis works closely with industrial partners on building bridges from research to industry, strengthening the innovative power and competitiveness of companies and help them gain a decisive technological edge by implementing top-level research directly into real work processes.

VRVis Example use cases

Radiology

• VRVis has a long-standing cooperation with AGFA Healthcare, in which innovative visual computing technologies are developed for optimization in the diagnostic process based on imaging procedures. One of VRVis current research focuses here lies in the area of interpretable AI – i.e. how processes behind machine learning and artificial intelligence can be made transparent for medical professionals. To this end, researchers at VRVis have developed a classification method for medical images that comprehensively displays abnormalities directly on the image.

Simulation for flood management and water-sensitive urban planning

• The Visdom simulation software can simulate flood and heavy rain events at unprecedented speed. The combination of simulation, analysis and visualization makes Visdom an innovative and user-friendly tool that supports flood forecasting and prevention as well as rapid decision-making in acute situations. Furthermore, Visdom is also ideally suited for use in the context of action planning of water-sensitive urban and landscape planning due to the possibility of simulation and analysis of various scenarios and planning options within seconds.

Production

• RHI Magnesita's fireproof products have to meet the highest quality standards, regular quality controls are a crucial part of the production process. In the course of digitalization, many different parameters are automatically determined for each brick produced. However, the fully automated data collection increases the amount and complexity of the data and commercially available statistics programs are not sufficient to exploit the full potential of the data. That is why, VRVis has developed a data analysis tool that combines intuitive interfaces and customized analysis solutions. This way, even non-data scientists have comprehensible access to the production data.