Michael Darmitz

Base

Full name	Michael Darmitz
Summary	Helping digital companies integrate new technologies with different platforms and different tools, such as combining Virtual Reality, VR Sets and motion capture systems
Introduce yourself, your experience and your credentials	Mike takes lead on projects that involve substantial programming, software architecture, or software integration efforts. Mike has an extensive background in virtual reality and augmented reality; he previously served as the Head of Software for Sulon Technologies, a company that created one of the world’s first standalone augmented reality headsets. Years of working as a software engineer in the games industry have also provided him with experience in a diverse range of programming languages and platforms, and have allowed him to express his great passion for delivering compelling experiences to others.
Describe your research	Some of the main things I’m involved with here at SIRT are on the software development side specifically integrating new technologies with different platforms and different tools. For example somebody might want to use some new technology or SDK with a game engine such as Unity or Unreal, but it’s currently not accessible in that way. So I might help architect and develop the software that would allow them to use it easily in those game engines for their purposes. Another major thing that I work on is actually integrating new technologies or tools into experiences. So sometimes a company may not have the software development skills or experience to integrate something into an existing content piece or game and so I might help with the architecture and programming required in order to leverage those tools within that experience, and actually combine that functionality with their experience. Some of the technologies that were commonly working with these days would include things such as Virtual Reality so for example here we’ve got a gear VR headset. This might look a little different than normal because we actually have this rigged up to work with a motion capture system. It’s an example of some of the interesting integration work that we do here at SIRT. So combining motion capture based tracking with something like a mobile VR headset. For virtual reality we’re also working with some of the newer virtual reality technologies. For example, here it’s a Windows mixed reality headset. This actually has inside out tracking which enables you to track your position without having to set up sensors and work with them. Augmented reality in multiple forms of course is very popular these days. We have kind of the most one of the most well known piece of AR technology, the Microsoft HoloLens. It has an inside out tracking augmented reality device.
Explain its significance	I certainly work with a lot of external partners. One of the ways we often work with them is that they combust with something new and innovative they want to develop but they might not know the best technology or platform to use in order to develop it. So in my capacity, I might help advise them as to what is currently available with the latest and greatest technologies and also a system with designing and developing tools or content that creates a vision they originally had. Some of the most relevant aspects of the work that I do involve enabling people to leverage new technologies in interesting ways without necessarily having the software development experience or software architecture experience to do it themselves. It’s often not very clear how best to incorporate these new technologies from a technical perspective. That’s really where I help out with my role.