As part of its continuous effort to advance Augmented Reality (AR) technology, the California-based multinational technology company Meta has announced a four-year research programme with the world-leading research institute – Tyndall in Ireland.
The research programme will be led by Tyndall’s Professor Paul Hurley, who was recently appointed as Meta’s Industrial Chair in Semiconductor Technologies at Tyndall and the School of Chemistry at UCC. He will lead a multi-disciplinary research team, including the appointment of a cohort of Tyndall Ph.D. students, to help advance the state of AR technology alongside Meta.
Pádraig Hughes, Meta’s Head of Reality Labs in Cork, said: “We’re delighted with the appointment of Professor Paul Hurley as Meta’s Chair to advance research in miniature light display technologies for Augmented Reality. It is a testament to the calibre of Irish academic research and in particular, the research that Paul is leading at the Tyndall National Institute.”
According to the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, the research program demonstrates its world-class research efforts in the core technologies underpinning the broad adoption of Augmented Reality (AR) platforms and the strategic importance of its Irish research teams collaborating with Tyndall in Cork.
On his part, Professor Paul Hurley said while accepting the offer said: “The optoelectronic efficiency of ultra-scaled devices such as micro LEDs is dominated by surfaces and interfaces. The goal of this research engagement with Meta is to investigate heterogeneous systems and determine their impact on efficiency, further informing critical technology adoption in future products.”
Just recently, the tech giant introduced AR and VR as educational tools to teachers in Poland, which aim at sharing knowledge around innovative technologies and introduce teachers to the benefits of implementing them into the core curriculum, which includes the development of creative skills and digital competencies by students.
