Senior R&D Engineer in VR, AR and MR.
Computer Sciences, Ph.D.
75013 Paris — France
laurent.aguerreche [at] gmail.com
Bio
I am a R&D engineer in computer sciences who worked for software companies and academics. My activities are mainly focused on VR, AR, MR and 3D more generally, which also leads to questions about software architecture and performance. I also handle issues about user interaction in immersive virtual environments.
I work at Theoris where I developed parts of Airbus' Mixed Reality/Augmented reality solution (MiRA) for inspecting airplanes or helping assembling: I improved its architecture to work on Microsoft HoloLens 1 & 2 and revamped the tag-tracking system for augmented reality.
Until 2017 I worked at MiddleVR that is a company providing immersive virtual reality (VR) applications and services. I developed the flagship software product, MiddleVR for Unity, that simplifies the creation of professional VR applications. I added support for several hardware devices (HMDs, haptic devices, motion capture systems). I also participated to the development of Improov3, a solution for reviewing and collaborating on CAD models. Among several software libraries I worked on, one was used in Improov3 to import, process and export different CAD file formats.
In 2013, I worked for TechViz as a R&D engineer, at Paris, France, where I implemented OpenGL extensions in TechViz XL, which one might see as an OpenGL driver bringing new opportunities for visualization of 3D data. I brought support for new 3D programs into TechViz XL. I also improved the software architecture of the body motion capture stack and added support for more mocap systems.
Before TechViz, I worked as a R&D engineer for a software company called VRXL, at Rennes, France, that developed virtual reality simulations for a number of major industrial players in the transport, automotive, training and defense sectors. Our main client and partner was Nexter Training (NT). I have notably been involved from the architecture designing to the development of new NT's scenario tools based on Unity3D for making scripted 3D simulation environments. I participated in the development of many 3D simulations. I made communication to Drupal websites possible to track learners progress inside simulations.
Until 2011, I worked as a research engineer for the national ANR project named Collaviz at IRISA-INRIA Rennes. This project was dedicated to collaborative visualization of scientific data. You may find more information on the website of the Ph.D. student I was working with at this time, namely Dr. Cédric Fleury. I worked on the framework that was developed at IRISA: abstraction of VR hardware devices, software architecture, 3D interaction and better overall performances.
I completed my Ph.D. in Computer Science in June 2010 as a member of the Bunraku team at IRISA-INRIA Rennes, and as a student at Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA de Rennes, France), working under the supervision of Pr. Bruno Arnaldi and Pr. Thierry Duval. Some parts of my work have also been done with the help of Dr. Anatole Lécuyer. This work happened in the context of the national ANR project called Part@ge for collaborative interaction in virtual environments.
My research interests were focused on single and multi-user interaction in virtual environments. More generally, I tried to create new means for user interaction through new software metaphors and the use of new input devices, e.g. optical tracking for gestures.
Finally I obtained at University of Bordeaux (Bordeaux, France) a Master of Science degree in virtual reality, 3D modeling & rendering, image processing & analyzing, and human interaction in 2006. Previously I achieved a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics at the same university in 2003.