Virtual Prototyping is generally recognized as a practice potentially useful for the reduction of the development costs of industrial products. A Virtual Prototype is an anticipation of a product shape-function that does not exist in reality yet, but that appears and behaves as it were real. Therefore, a Virtual Prototype interactively simulates how a product looks like, how it works, how users use it, etc. Research outcomes of recent years, and the enormous improvements in price and performances in computer technology, have enabled the realization of complex Virtual Prototypes integrating real-time, immersive or augmented, visual interaction, as well as haptic and sonic interaction.

The construction of effective Virtual Prototypes requires interdisciplinary competences, which go beyond engineering and IT disciplines, and include crucial disciplines related to human aspects such as human factors, human cognition, ergonomics, usability etc.

The aim of the Summer School is to create a contact and a discussion point for international researchers and Ph.D. students interested in theoretical issues, methods, techniques, technologies and practices related to Virtual Prototyping.

Specifically, the fifth edition of the school will focus on the following topics:

• VR/AR technologies and applications
• Multisensory Interaction and Multisensory Design
• Haptic technologies, and haptic interfaces design
• Human perception and cognition in human-computer interactions



Modality



The fifth edition of the Summer School will be held in the Virtual Prototyping laboratory of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Politecnico di Milano on July 14-18.

The maximum number of students admitted to the VP Summer School is 25.

Participation is by registration sent via e-mail to the organizer together with a presentation letter, Francesco Ferrise (francesco.ferrise@polimi.it) by June 30th.