Students in the Applied Computer Science and Media Computer Science programs at Hochschule RheinMain – University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSRM) participated in the first German-Japanese summer school, “Human-Centered Perception Modeling in Extended Reality” (HCPM 2026) at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) in Japan. For one week, they worked alongside students from NAIST to develop research ideas and design experiments on human perception in Extended Reality (XR).
Focus on Human Perception
The program combined academic lectures with collaborative research. Specializations included visual attention, the interplay of different sensory impressions, and comfort in human-robot interaction. The participants explored how human perception can be incorporated into the design and study of XR systems.
In their collaborative work, students from Germany and Japan brought diverse academic and cultural perspectives to the table. They exchanged research approaches and further developed ideas for XR experiments. This laid the basics for potential joint publications and ongoing scientific collaboration.
Exchange at Ikoma
Even outside of lab work, the summer school provided opportunities for participants to engage in conversation. A group hike up Mount Ikoma complemented the academic program and gave participants space to get to know one another better and forge personal connections. In this way, the summer school combined academic enrichment with intercultural exchange.
On behalf of HSRM, Martin Weier, Dirk Voelz, and Biying Fu helped organize the event and accompanied the group to Japan. The Summer School was also made possible thanks to the support of the International Office. The organizing team at NAIST included, among others, Alexander Marquardt, Monica Perusquía Hernández, Taishi Sawabe, and Isidro Butaslac. The event was supported by Professor Kiyoshi Kiyokawa from the CARE Lab and Professor Hirokazu Kato from the IMD Lab.