Mixed Reality Lab Singapore: A Genealogy of Lab Projects
Employing the Blue Sky Innovation Research Methodology
Adrian David Cheok
IDMI
National University of Singapore
adriancheok@mixedrealitylab.org
Jeffrey Tzu Kwan Valino Koh
IDMI, NGS
National University of Singapore
jeffrey@mixedrealitylab.org
Roshan Lalintha Peiris
IDMI, NGS
National University of Singapore
roshan@mixedrealitylab.org
Owen Noel Newton Fernando
IDMI
National University of Singapore
newtonfernando@mixedrealitylab.org
ABSTRACT
In this paper we outline a genealogy of Mixed Reality Lab
(MXR) projects, their influencing factors both from the Asian
region and also within the lab, the employment of “Blue-Sky
Innovation” by the lab for ideation, collaboration and project
generation, as well as discuss some major points of inspira-
tion for MXR from various sources.
Author Keywords
Blue-Sky Innovation, Mixed Reality Lab, Research, Collab-
oration, Genealogy, Singapore
ACM Classification Keywords
H.m MISCELLANEOUS: [Miscellaneous]
General Terms
Design, Documentation, Management, Theory
INTRODUCTION
The Mixed Reality Lab (MXR) at the National University
of Singapore has become renowned as a center of excel-
lence for interactive media and entertainment technology.
The MXR Lab focuses its efforts on interactive and digital
media technologies, combining the skills of engineers, sci-
entists, artists and designers to create the future of digital
interaction.
As the MXR Lab is located in center of South East Asia and
is funded mostly by public sources, many of the projects are
directed by the situations and conditions that the region of-
fers. Local influences and societal issues mix with the mul-
ticulturalism and the multidisciplinary characteristics of the
lab’s researchers. Paired with Singapore’s cultural and eco-
nomic position as a bridge between the east and west, in
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relation to the billions of people within short travelling dis-
tance (India, China, Indonesia, Australia), the MXR Lab lies
at the convergence of many factors that makes the work of
the lab unique [30].
Not only does the region offer distinct conditions that effect
how the lab operates, but the researchers that the MXR Lab
harbours also provide a wealth of diverse perspectives. Re-
searchers at the lab both past and present hail from around
the globe, including people from countries such as Australia,
Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Greece, India, Iran, Malaysia,
Mexico, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzer-
land, Taiwan, the United States of America and beyond. All
these experiences come together for better or for worse, as
communication between researchers can be difficult at times,
but always diverse and nurturing, with the common goal of
doing high-impact research using what can be described as
“Blue-Sky Innovation”.
In this paper we will outline a genealogy of MXR projects,
their influencing factors both from the region and within the
lab, the employment of Blue-Sky Innovation by the lab for
ideation, collaboration and project generation, as well as dis-
cuss some major points of inspiration for MXR from various
sources.
BLUE-SKY INNOVATION
It always starts with a crazy idea. “Let’s use octopuses as
display devices!” exclaims a member of the lab. Other mem-
bers scoff at the statement, some think it genius, while oth-
ers simply stare bewildered, slack-jawed and dumb-founded.
This statement was in fact, the seed of inspiration that lead
the Liquid Interface team from the Mixed Reality Lab at the
National University of Singapore to the project that is in de-
velopment today.
The train of thought was this:
We have projects that explore living things as media. Other
then purple cabbage, which we already use as a display em-
bodiment for the Babbage Cabbage project, are there any
other organisms that posses color-changing properties? Cer-
tain reptiles change color, as do some aquatic animals such

as fish and octopuses. Aquatic means liquid, right? Hey
did you see those kinetic sculptures that Sachiko Kodama
made? She uses magnetism to form them. They are pretty,
but you can’t directly interact with the material. Maybe we
can use the controllability of magnetic fields to shape the
ferrofluid to whatever we want, much like Magneto does to
metal from the X-Men. Together with Hall Effect sensing, we
can use the same magnetic field that agitates the ferrofluid
to also sense and actuate it. This would enable us to cre-
ate a shape-changing, three-dimensional and organic user
interface [12].
And thus the Liquid Interface project was born.
It is precisely these types of playful, inventive considerations
that pushes the lab to explore novel technologies and inter-
actions. Of course, not all projects from the Mixed Reality
Lab are born purely from such thought processes. As we
are mostly publicly funded, community, society and culture
play immense roles in the development of our projects, but
a great many of our projects are inspired in such a manner,
faintly akin to mad scientist methodologies. For example
the Poultry.Internet project, in which pet owners can caress
and hug their pet chickens remotely over the Internet, is also
widely agreed among researchers in the field as being a bit
out there, to put it politely [28].
Influenced by South-East Asian cultures and values, the Poul-
try.Internet project addresses the need for pets to co-exist
with their human counterparts on the network [28, 19]. Pets
are important and instrumental to many people in having
a healthy lifestyle. The chicken has traditionally been a
loving pet and member of the family in rural, South-East
Asian homes. By equipping a pet chicken with a remotely
connected hugging vest, pet owners can remain physically
and therefore emotionally connected to their pets even when
away from home.
The idea to use the chicken as our pet of choice may seem
a bit zany at first, but we must not ignore the wealth of re-
search that chickens have been involved with. You could say
that the chicken is the unsung author of many a research pub-
lication. Chickens are big business, and companies who deal
in poultry have found that chickens; known as highly emo-
tional creatures, are more productive at laying eggs when
haptically stimulated. Indeed like humans, chickens need
love too [28].
Speaking of love, humans need to feel and express it very
much, so who is to say that we cannot share this essential
emotion with robots? Most researchers would think that sim-
ulating the emotion of love is an impossible research area
(almost as impossible as getting a date during conference
deadline time for many of the researchers at the lab), but
since one of the main topics of research for the Mixed Real-
ity Lab is Feeling Communication, understanding and digi-
tally recreating this most important of emotions was almost
a knee-jerk reaction when it was brought up.
By simulating the human endocrine system using complex
algorithms developed by researchers at the lab, we are able
to replicate some of the hormonal functions that occur in hu-
mans, which we then transplanted into a custom-built robot.
This research, combining our software-based endocrine sys-
tem and robotics is called Lovotics [22, 23].
As examples, these are really just the tip of the iceberg when
it comes to some of the more thought provoking projects
from the Mixed Reality Lab. Always aiming for as imagi-
native research as we can muster, many of the projects are
birthed from ideas developed in previous projects. Writing
this paper gives us a chance to evaluate and analyze how we
develop ideas in retrospect. Because of this opportunity, we
were able to categorize the lineage of our project develop-
ment, and have created a genealogy for projects that we will
discuss later in this paper.
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION
Singapore is in an interesting geographic situation within
South East Asia, where the Mixed Reality Lab calls home.
A place where many cultures and societies intersect, Sin-
gapore has inhabitants from all over Asia and the rest of
the world. Singapore is also a gateway to the world’s next
billion people [30]. In close proximity to Malaysia, India,
China, Indonesia and Australia, Singapore sits at a point
which connects all these locations. Because of this, Singa-
pore’s strategic importance is crucial for the development
of the region [30]. In addition, Singapore’s physical lo-
cation itself has sparked many collaborations. Combined
with positive governmental policy and the implementation
of more then adequate infrastructure, Singapore attempts to
become a central hub for technologies especially in the inter-
active digital media sector [30]. With this generous support
from the state, universities and other academic institutions
are widely encouraged to initiate international collaborations
in order to expand Singapore’s socio-technological horizon.
The Mixed Reality Lab reflects this diversity with researchers
hailing from around the world. This diversity offers the lab
various perspectives, sometimes not always agreeing, yet al-
ways nurturing, interesting and stimulating.
The geographic location and the spectrum of differing cul-
tures housed by the lab are also reflected in the MXR Labs
concepts, working methodologies and project outcomes. As
there is no fixed culture or strict guidelines imposed in the
lab, the lab members are always inspired by the cultures
of their peers, societal problems, etc. For example, one of
the popular projects of the lab, Age Invaders reflects one
common societal issue in Singapore. With Age Invaders
we try to re-build the increasing gap between the elderly
and the young [15]. By offering technological mediation to
these two generations, Age Invaders lets the elderly and the
young play computer games using their own bodies as phys-
ical avatars [16] with the working parents joining in over
the Internet, the whole family is re-united through technol-
ogy [16].
In Singapore, we are literally surrounded by a fast paced
modern society. Probing deeper into this society, and as

most of our lab members complain, we can clearly see how
the youth of the new generation is losing their grip with old
cultures. Because of a majority Chinese demography in Sin-
gapore, Confucian teaching is of great philosophical impor-
tance to the community [14, 6]. In order to address this de-
mographic preference, the Confucius Computer project at-
tempts to contemporise the teachings of Confucius through
the use of a digital chat interface. It aims to facilitate inter-
generational communication by enabling young and old to
interact and explore an ancient Asian cultural heritage. The
importance to not only embrace the traditions and cultures
of the surrounding region but to also promote them on the
international stage has become second nature.
Often we have many visitors from different backgrounds,
statuses, etc. visiting our lab. The central nature of Sin-
gapore as a transportation hub in the Asian region has im-
mensely encouraged these visitors to drop by and get an in-
sight to our work, have interesting discussions, and so on.
Often these talks have inspired many projects and different
perspectives of thinking. Similarly talking about slowly fad-
ing Asian textile cultures and traditions with Japanese textile
artists has inspired the project AmbiKraf to breath life back
into textiles [21]. This project has developed a new technol-
ogy that animates fabrics [21]. But how does this help these
traditions? Here we take differing Asian textile cultures and
traditions such as Japanese Byobu art, Sri Lankan Batik art,
etc. and re-integrate them with our technology. We hope
that this contemporary rebirth of the textile into an interac-
tive textile tradition reengages an old audience, finds a new
one, and in the process preserves said cultures for the 21st
century.
On a local level, the MXR Lab has always used its projects
to engage with the Singaporean public. Embracing themes
that are inspired and generated by our society, many of our
projects are also featured in public venues. We have demon-
strated technologies at community festivals, the Singapore
Science Center, and have an interactive exhibition situated
at one of Singapore’s newly built public transportation sta-
tions. Feedback from the public is very important to the lab,
as many of our projects attempt to address the needs of our
community.
COLLABORATIONS
Employing practitioners from backgrounds such as engineer-
ing, design, fine art, life sciences, social sciences and more,
the MXR Lab balances on the cusp of various fields, where
projects exist between the lines of traditional knowledge.
Even though such multi-talented, multi-disciplinary teams
are essential for many of the projects and collaborations in
the lab, there are still great difficulties when engaging in-
ternally between collaborators, and externally to community
and industry partners.
Internally, each and every researcher in the lab is unique.
People are experts in specific fields, come from different cul-
tures and have varying working methodologies. On a pro-
fessional level, designers and engineers can use terminology
that is specific to the jargon of their respective fields. What
one term means to one group of professionals could mean
something completely different to another. To have a com-
mon language, in which all members of the lab can commu-
nicate their ideas with, is key.
Because of this need, not only do projects cross the bound-
aries of various fields, but its developers must also do the
same. Lab members are encouraged to learn the practice of
their fellow members and it isn’t strange to see engineers us-
ing design-driven research or designers tinkering in order to
learn electronics. Understanding the language and knowl-
edge of their fellows is important in order to communicate
and collaborate effectively.
This sharing helps researchers engage people of all back-
grounds, not only because of a mutual understanding of the
skills involved that are needed for every project, but also be-
cause of the sense of mutual respect and understanding for
one another as individuals. This becomes doubly important
when collaborating with industry partners and in ideal situa-
tions, it also communicates to our partners that lab teams are
knowledgeable and cohesive.
POSITIONING IN RELATION TO SIMILAR LABS
MXR Lab shares many attributes with other labs and insti-
tutions working in overlapping fields. Indeed, many of the
MXR Lab researchers stand in awe and wonder at many of
the advancements produced by our colleagues from various
labs around the world.
The first and most famous lab that MXR can compare itself
to is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab
(http://www.media.mit.edu/). In many respects, both labs
share the same passion, curiosity and vision. Multidisci-
plinary collaborative methodologies and the exploration of
novel media drives research at both labs similarly, whereas
funding sources appear to be the main difference between
both labs. Privately funded research often needs to facili-
tate the expectations of the granting body. The MXR Lab
is funded publicly by the Singaporean government, which
offers us fluidity and wider experimentation as we do not
necessarily need to fulfill marketable requirements.
Another lab similar to our lab is the Mixed Reality Lab in
Nottingham (http://www.mrl.nott.ac.uk/), which works with
mixed reality concepts to drive and develop projects, but
where the Mixed Realty Lab in Nottingham focuses on us-
ing mixed reality for application in everyday life, the MXR
Lab covers areas that could sometimes be considered unfit
for public consumption.
In fact many other labs such as the UbiCompLab in Taiwan
(http://mll.csie.ntu.edu.tw/), the HIT Lab in New Zealand
(http://www.hitlabnz.org/wiki/Home), and the Tachi Lab in
Japan (http://tachilab.org/) conduct research that compares
with some of the areas that the MXR Lab is interested in, but
due to our wide scope and broad internal and external influ-
ences, paired with the concept of Blue-Sky Innovation, these
factors offer the MXR Lab the agility to explore a far fetch-

ing gamut of research topics. Nothing is beyond the scope of
interest for the MXR Lab and if we are not currently experts
in a new field of interest, researchers learn or are recruited to
cover new and interesting project developments and become
experts.
PROJECT LINEAGE AND GENEALOGY
One of the most basic difficulties when considering the writ-
ing of this paper was how to organize and categorize the
projects of the Mixed Reality Lab. Funding sources and re-
search goals were considered but were dismissed as being
too arbitrary. Many of the projects encompass various and
diversely overlapping themes. We needed to consider not
only themes but the actual chronology of development for
each project, and how one project would influence the trends
for following projects. By considering time and influence, a
family genealogy for lab projects was developed.
By organizing linearly on a timeline, projects began to fall
into place in regards to how they influenced one another
before and after their conception. Generations of projects
manifested themselves, as common threads appeared with
themes that were developed congruently. Using these gen-
erations, not only were key topics identified but also their
lineage regarding development. This phenomenon enables
the lab with foresight into possible research topics for the
future. The generations are categorized as follows:
• The Proto-Project: This generation represents the project
that provides the archetypal themes in which all future
projects are based on.
• Gen-1 Projects: These projects explored the augmented
and virtual realities, and laid down key concepts for the
study of mixed reality.
• Gen-2 Projects: This second generation of Mixed Reality
Lab projects attempted to incorporate the real and phys-
ical world in contrast to the lab’s previous generation of
projects.
• Gen-3 Projects: Cultural computing becomes important in
this generation of projects and exploration beyond techni-
cal implementations are pursued.
• Gen-4 Projects: Fourth generation projects return to the
hybridization that was explored in second generation projects
but this time combine physical and cultural computing.
• Gen-5 Projects: Finally, generation five projects uncover
the quantum innovation that were developed in previous
generations to develop projects that are far-forward think-
ing.
The Proto-Project: Human Pacman
Human Pacman (Figure 2) considers many topics that take
prominence in all the projects conceived at MXR [5]. Is-
sues such as virtual and augmented reality, physical and nat-
ural user interfaces, entertainment, embodiment, wearable
and socio-cultural computing are all raised in the project. At
the time and still to this day, many of these themes drive
the research in other labs, but it was this prototypical project
Figure 2. Human Pacman first person view
Figure 3. Babbage Cabbage project
that propelled MXR to its current research aspirations. As
such it can be considered that Human Pacman exists as the
proto-project in which the MXR Lab found its roots and in-
spiration.
Gen-1 Projects: Plant Story, Kyoto Garden
Early works of MXR focused on 3D images and graphical
interaction using the principles of mixed reality, which al-
lows the new methodology of ubiquitous human media to be
implemented and expressed in action. It brought the oppor-
tunity of placing computation and interaction through and
with the environment, rather than only on a desktop com-
puter with keyboard and mouse, in addition to incorporating
sociological organization of interactive behavior. Using 3D
graphical objects, tangible interaction, and 3D sound, it was
shown that ubiquitous human media allows the manipulation
of objects in physical space to interact with 3D digital infor-
mation. Kyoto Garden and Plant Story [8] are two example
applications that align with these purposes.
For years, Kyoto in Japan was world famous for its unique

Figure 1. Generation versus Time matrix of MXR projects
garden art. Researchers in Kyoto University found out that
designing a miniature sand garden could be a good aid for
human mind therapy. However, designing a physical sand
table is time consuming, and the white sand can really get
messy. To solve this problem, we came up with a novel idea
of applying ubiquitous human media and developed a virtual
garden designing system, Kyoto Garden. Moreover, these
activities took place in the context of the environment.
Figure 4. Poultry.Internet project
Gen-2 Projects: Metazoa Ludens, Poultry.Internet, Huggy
Pajama, Age Invaders, MediaME, Living Media (dDNA and
Babbage Cabbage)
After many projects that involves the virtuality paradigm, the
MXR Lab begins to explore more towards the reality end
of of the Virtuality Continuum [20]. During this time, us-
ing the hypothesis that all interactive elements have a com-
mon foundation, embodiment, the lab shifted its focus to-
Figure 5. Huggy Pajama project user tests
wards embodied media with more emphasis on the physical-
ity of the interactions. Inspired by some of the foundation
paradigms of embodied media such as ubiquitous comput-
ing [29], tangible user interfaces [13] and interaction, the
lab started to investigate the realism of embedding tangibil-
ity as another mode for communication. Projects like Living
Media (dDNA [7] and Babbage Cabbage (Figure 3) [11])
discuss the values of using living organisms as display and
interaction systems [7]. Metazoa Ludens [24, 25] and Poul-
try.Internet (Figure 4) [28, 19] discuss a possible future where
pets can join us through the virtual world, where as Huggy
Pajama (Figure 5) [27, 26] and Age Invaders [15, 16, 17]
considers new forms of interaction among people.
Gen-3 Projects: Confucius Computer, Poetry Mix-up
Probing deeper into some of the inspirations behind previ-
ous generations of work, we identified that the cultural back-
grounds deeply rooted in lab members were critical motiva-

Figure 6. Confucius Computer user testing
Figure 7. Petimo robots
tions for the work of MXR. The typical traditional Asian pet
chicken inspiring the Poultry.Internet research project, and
the increasing distances between young children and their
grand parents inspiring the Age Invaders research project are
some of the key examples in this regard. In addition, todays
rapid development of science and technology is pushing a
decline in traditional culture. Younger generations accept
new technology so quickly that most of them do not appre-
ciate their heritage and art as their ancestors did [14]. Hence,
through Confucius Computer and Poetry Mixup, the next
generation of lab work was deeply motivated towards pro-
viding an interface to allow users to learn, cherish and expe-
rience different cultures. Confucius Computer (Figure 6) is
a new form of illogical computing that models Confucius’
mind and personality and enables users to experience his
philosophies through modern, everyday activities [14, 6].
Similarly Poetry Mix-up [10, 9] analyses and transforms a
text message into a mashed up poem letting the users be-
come poets themselves.
Gen-4 Projects: Petimo, AmbiKraf
Exploring further into the realms of cultural computing, this
generation of lab work considers the tangible integration of
cultural computing. Some of the key works of this gener-
ation, Petimo [4, 2, 3] and AmbiKraf [21], investigate this
feasibility of the exploration of cultural computing through
tangible interfaces, as well as the exploration of Japanese
culture such as J-POP and Kawaii [4]. The spawning of the
Keio-NUS CUTE Center (http://www.cutecenter.org/) dur-
ing this time as a part of the Interactive and Digital Media
Institute at the National University of Singapore, helped the
MXR Lab collaborate with the Keio University School of
Figure 8. AmbiKraf Interactive Byobu screen
Figure 9. Liquid interfaces prototype
Media Design in Japan. As a result it can be noted that
Petimo (Figure 7) and AmbiKraf (Figure 8) explore the tra-
ditional cultures of Japan.
Gen-5 Projects: Smell and Taste, Food Media, Liquid In-
terface, Paper Interface, Lovotics
The latest wave of research at the Mixed Reality Lab could
be defined as quantum leap motivated. Without challenging
the boundaries of research paradigms in an incremental step,
the lab focuses on challenging the research paradigms itself
to achieve quantum steps forward in our research. Ideas that
seem heavily unrealistic, crazy or sometimes even termed as
“Blue-Sky” are the key inspirations for this latest wave of
research.
Smell and Taste is a project that attempts to digitally sim-
ulate the human experience of tasting and smelling. It ad-
dresses the lack of research regarding the engagement of
other modalities by current communication technologies. The
Food Media project uses food as a communication inter-
face [1].
Lovotics merges our computer simulated version of the hu-
man endocrine system with robotics, in order to produce
emotional behavior by robots toward humans and vise versa
[22, 23].

Figure 10. Digital origami project
Finally the Paper Interface and Liquid Interface projects ex-
plore new forms of tangible user interfaces. Paper Interface
(Figure 10) is a system that tries to digitize origami to be
used as an input method [31]. Liquid Interface (Figure 9)
attempts to recreate the paradigm of the button by offering a
malleable, self-configurable and shape-changing, 3D tangi-
ble user interface [18].
CONCLUSION
In this paper we have outlined the key factors in which the
MXR Lab operates; its influences and characteristics, which
make the laboratory unique among its peers. We have also
presented a methodology to identify and organize key projects
produced by the lab, as well as their relationships with other
projects developed or in development. Finally, we have out-
lined one of the main methodologies in which the lab con-
ceptualizes its projects, what we describe as Blue-Sky Inno-
vation.
It goes without saying that the lab is pulled and pushed by
many influences both external and internal. Factors such as
culture, the skills and interests of the researchers that work
in the lab, Asian tradition and the local Singaporean com-
munity all play interesting roles when developing projects
within the lab. Matched with the desire to stand shoulder-
to-shoulder with the global research community by always
pursuing interesting and valuable research, the working con-
text of the MXR Lab offers a unique perspective of values
and aspirations that is a reflection of the conditions in which
it is born from and nurtured by.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper was made possible by the invaluable contribu-
tions of all lab members and collaborators both past and
present from the Mixed Reality Lab and the Keio-NUS CUTE
Center, in which this section is inadequate to fully describe.
This research is carried out under CUTE Project No. WBS
R-7050000-100-279 partially funded by a grant from the Na-
tional Research Foundation (NRF) administered by the Me-
dia Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore.
This work is partially supported by the grant NRF2007IDM
-IDM002 -069 on “Life Spaces” from the Interactive Digital
Media (IDM) Project Office, Media Development Authority
(MDA) of Singapore.
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