Spatial AI Lab – Zurich

Research Summit Available On Demand

This image contains two panels. The panel on the left is titled “3D face reconstruction” and depicts two faces of real people and corresponding face models developed using the dense landmarks method with 703 facial landmarks. The panel on the right is titled “Benchmarking localization and mapping for AR” and shows the interior of a building with paths—or sequences—where people had captured the environment using Microsoft HoloLens.

ECCV 2022 highlights: Advancing the foundations of mixed reality

Enabling interaction between mixed reality and robots via cloud-based localization

The Microsoft Spatial AI Lab – Zurich is focused on building the future of mixed reality using computer vision to map and understand the environment, recognize and track relevant objects, and assist users performing tasks. The lab is also exploring the synergies between mixed reality and robotics.

Marc Pollefeys, who leads this lab, is a Partner Director of Science at Microsoft and also a Professor of Computer Science at ETH Zurich. He is best known for his work in 3D computer vision, having been the first to develop a software pipeline to automatically turn photographs into 3D models, but also works on robotics, graphics, and machine learning problems.

In the context of the lab Microsoft and ETH Zurich, the top technical school in continental Europe, have established a strategic partnership allowing close collaboration in multiple areas of mixed reality and AI. The lab is further collaborating with other top institutions such as EPFL.

The lab is currently recruiting world-class, diverse expertise across computer vision, graphics, machine learning, robotics, interaction, and software engineering.

“We are developing Spatial AI that better understands the physical world. Our goal is to develop spatially aware Copilots helping people solve problems in the real world and enabling robots to carry out physical tasks.”
Marc Pollefeys, Lab Director, Spatial AI Lab – Zurich