The AR Software Development Leaders of 2018
Profiles
Robert Sumner — Disney Research
Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger may set the company's direction for preferring augmented reality over VR, but Robert Sumner, associate director at Disney Research, is driving the company's innovation of AR technology.
At Disney, Sumner heads up research in animation and games, including augmented reality. According to the Disney Research website, Sumner and his team endeavor to "bypass technical barriers in animation and game production pipelines with new algorithms that expand the designer's creative toolbox in terms of depiction, movement, deformation, stylization, control, and efficiency."
In this capacity, Sumner has co-authored several publications for research into augmented reality innovations, including AR face projection, a mobile app that lets users re-color paintings in AR, and intelligent AR characters that can react to real-world obstacles.
Sumner's work in advancing technology also extends outside of Disney's doors. After studying computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Sumner earned his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute Technology (MIT). Before joining Disney, Sumner worked as a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, where he now serves as an adjunct professor for the Game Programming Laboratory. He founded the ETH Game Technology Center in 2015; a group focused on fostering research, education, and outreach in game technology.
Robert leads the lab's research in animation and games. His research group strives to bypass technical barriers in animation and game production pipelines with new algorithms that expand the designer's creative toolbox with respect to depiction, movement, deformation, stylization, control, and efficiency.
We spoke to Sumner about what sparked his path toward working on the cutting edge of immersive computing. Below is his lightly edited response.
Describe your first time experiencing AR or VR?
My first experience was around 1996. I was a student volunteer at the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference and had the chance to try a virtual reality experience in Disney's exhibition space where you fly a magic carpet through the animated world of Aladdin. Even in this early day, the experience was incredible, and I've never forgotten it. Fortunately, a research paper describing the concept is still available.
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