Tag: logitech

Lero and Logitech join forces to engage in a €2.5M research project

The University of Limerick based software research centre, Lero, is to collaborate on a new multi-year research project, which will involve the testing of 2,000 top video gamers in partnership with gaming computer peripherals giant Logitech G, to better understand how computer gamers train and compete.

Logitech gaming innovation engineer Niall White said: “This €2.5 million four-year partnership with Lero builds on previous research projects with Lero, which have yielded positive results and enabled the company to gain an edge in the global video game industry.

“Lero are the best in the business at this type of software research, and the outputs from this project will help us design and create new gaming products for augmenting gaming performance – mouse, headsets, keyboards and controllers, for example.”

The research partnership extension signals Logitech G’s continued dedication to advancing the industry’s scientific knowledge base of gaming and esports performance.

Lero and Logitech G have collaborated across a range of studies since 2016 to measure the biomechanical, psychological and cognitive capabilities of professional esports athletes to casual gamers to better understand their needs and innovate products to serve them.

Director of the Esport Science Research Lab at Lero, Professor Mark Campbell, said the project’s goals are to advance our understanding of how gamers train and compete.

“We will have to create bespoke software tests to identify and measure key performance indicators of gaming and gamers, and identify and measure the biomarkers of esports and gaming performance.

“This will be achieved through the use of cutting-edge technology such as brain imaging, eye tracking and biosensors,” said Dr Campbell, who is Professor in Sport and Performance Psychology at the University of Limerick.

Professor Campbell said Lero aims to test up to 2,000 gamers or more over the next four years of the project, beginning today (August 18) at the Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany, where Lero plans to test hundreds of gamers over the five-day convention.

“The information we gather will help enable the development of AI-powered smart gaming peripherals such as mice, keyboards and headsets with biosensors for human performance monitoring in-game and other potential training tools such as bespoke software tests using AI dynamic difficulty adjustments for smarter training and competing,” he added.

Professor Campbell said the four-year research programme will be of benefit to Ireland’s €500 million gaming industry employing close to 2,000 people as the project will involve developing strong PhD students, research assistants and Post Docs dedicated to focused research areas across fields such as computer science, psychology, neuroscience, sport science, software engineering, and human-centred design.

“We will leverage behavioural, physiological and performance data from both professional and amateur gamers during play and training sessions to assess player performance, identify key influencing factors and enhance the gaming experience. Additionally, this project will explore prototyping and iterative design methodologies to develop next-generation gaming tools, interfaces, and performance-tracking systems tailored for various gamer needs,” he added.

Professor Campbell said there is a growing level of game development expertise among the research community in Ireland, and the Lero/Logitech INGAME (Innovation in Gaming and Esports) project will bring about greater international visibility of the games industry-related research and development taking place in Irish third-level institutions.

Irish software research centre Lero to open doors for women to esports competitions

Research to determine if women have cognitive advantages that could help them become stars in the male-dominated esport sector, where players compete for more than €500 million in prize money annually, has been launched by Lero, Ireland’s Research Centre for Software, and University of Limerick.

Lero researchers at the bespoke Esports Science Research Lab—the first of its kind in Europe—have teamed up with Logitech, a designer of software-enabled hardware solutions. This collaboration aims to leverage Logitech’s expertise in hardware design and Lero’s research capabilities to establish elite women gamers’ cognitive and gaming abilities.

 Director of the Esport Science Research Lab and Co-Principal Investigator on the project, Professor Mark Campbell, said gaming is now a multi-billion-euro industry with professional gamers, coaches, and competitions viewed by audiences that compare in size with well-established major sporting events like the Superbowl, the golf majors, Wimbledon, and the Six Nations.

“Even though esports don’t require as much physical effort as traditional sports, there is a dichotomy whereby men feature much more prominently than women at the highest levels of play. Yet most of the video gaming and esports research to date predominantly tests male participants, which means we know little to nothing about elite women gamers’ cognitive and gaming performance.”

Dr Adam Toth, Principal Investigator on the project, added: “This project will continue to grow the capabilities and expertise within the Lero Esports Science Research Lab, utilising bespoke experimental techniques, expert investigators, and high-level processing and analysis tools to identify the attributes of elite women gamers and how we can enhance women’s performance and experience in gaming.”

Dr Toth said the goal of this project is to extend collaborative work between Lero and Logitech in esports and break new ground by investigating the cognitive and gaming performance of elite women gamers.

“We will do this by using bespoke hardware and software to capture behavioural, physiological and performance data during professional and amateur gamers’ training and play sessions to highlight any significant cognitive differences between male and female gamers. This data primarily will come from the differing instrumentation of games/gaming devices, and processing and analysis techniques will be employed to assess the cognitive and in-game similarities and differences of elite women gamers compared to their male counterparts,” he added.

The two-year project at the University of Limerick, which will cost close to €120,000, builds on a successful eight-year collaboration between UL and Logitech and will enhance the capabilities and status of the Esports Science Research Lab at the University of Limerick.

Intelligent hybrid working: Logitech showcases AI-powered tabletop camera ‘Logitech Sight’ at DTX 2022

DTX + UCX exhibitors Logitech used Europe’s #1 digital transformation event of 2022 to showcase their revolutionary new product the Logitech Sight – an AI-powered tabletop camera that intelligently captures the best perspective of meeting participants and tracks conversations as they move around the conference room.

In today’s hybrid work landscape in which 43% of remote employees report not feeling included, the Logitech Sight helps solve the disparity between hybrid teams by giving remote workers an “at the table” experience when meeting with in-office colleagues.

Logitech Sight is the latest in a series of innovations designed to level the playing field for all workers, regardless of whether they choose to collaborate from the office, home, or anywhere else.

As an AI-powered camera, Logitech Sight provides alternative perspectives—by extending audio and video into larger rooms—to the Rally Bar or Rally Bar Mini camera at the front of the room.

With dual 4K cameras and seven beamforming microphones, Sight captures conversations and nonverbals as they naturally happen. This ultimately enhances employee participation and engagement by helping remote attendees feel as if they’re actually seated at the table.

Scott Wharton, general manager of Logitech Video Collaboration, stated: “We’re no longer all at home in equal-sized video boxes like we were during the height of the pandemic. In a hybrid work world, a mix of in-office and remote workers increases the challenge of delivering equitable experiences to everyone.”

“Logitech Sight, when used with Rally Bar or Rally Bar Mini, uses AI to tackle this problem with a model that is less Silicon Valley and more Hollywood—the art of using multiple camera angles and intelligent direction to bring remote participants off the sidelines and into the room. 

“Our customers have told us that this is one of the biggest hybrid work problems to solve to make ‘return to the office’ work better for teams. We believe, based on years of research and early customer feedback, that we’ve cracked the code on this must-win critical problem for organisations of all sizes.”

Eamon O’Doherty, Enterprise Director EMEA at Logitech added: “2022 has seen further confirmation that the home is just an important workspace as the office is. Of course, a home office is a different set-up to a conventional office, and has different benefits and challenges when it comes to communication.

“In response, there’s been a noticeable development in products aimed at improving the home working experience, such as docks that double as speaker phones both for conference calls and music, and which feature physical buttons that integrate with a chosen video software. 

“At the same time, these hubs can also wirelessly connect to a wireless headset, meaning a user can switch to more personal communication should there be background noise at home (an inevitability when there are kids and animals around!).

“Going forward, we’ll see more business technology that is designed for the home working space – whether that’s lighter and more compact solutions that fit in smaller, often improvised workspaces, or wireless-first products that help to reduce clutter by removing wires.”

The Logitech Sight will also enable RightSight with Smart Switching, adaptive intelligence that selects the best view between the tabletop camera and front-of-room camera, intuitively switching between camera views of in-person interactions and tracking conversations naturally

By integrating with leading video conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet, Sight makes it easy to use hybrid-friendly meeting layout features like Zoom Smart Gallery and Microsoft Teams dynamic view.

Compatibility with popular platforms also gives IT teams assurance that their smart room technology will continue to meet the evolving needs of their hybrid workforce.