Photos by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

Technology at Campaign Launch Captivates Guests

At the celebration of the public launch of the Campaign for UC San Diego, guests were awed by a dynamic multimedia experience showcasing innovation and experimentation that has been our “tradition” since the beginning.

A UC San Diego-branded RFID bracelet was the unconventional ticket to the event, unlocking technologies that amazed and activating unique content that was customized for each guest. In a ‘Tunnel of Time’, attendees’ perspectives were challenged by augmented reality—rain flowed upwards and clouds floated on the ground—and a four-sided dome suspended from the ceiling featured innovative experiences, data visualization.

The event also showcased technology created right here including:

• A robot selfie anyone? Henrik Christensen, founding director of UC San Diego’s Contextual Robotics Institute and one of the most influential robotics researchers in the world, was at the event in collaboration with Fetch Robotics, which provides reliable and safe autonomous mobile robots for commercial applications.
• Alums tackle nanoscale VR. Nanome, started by UC San Diego alumni, is capitalizing on the new Virtual Reality headsets by creating VR apps for consumers, classrooms and the campaign event.
• Say what? Peter Otto, chief science officer at Comhear, demonstrated revolutionary new products designed to let users customize their listening environment based on an exclusive license for audio beamforming technology developed by researchers at UC San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute.
• Paint your world. Guests glimpsed a vision of UC San Diego’s future thanks to an artist and expert in Google’s Tilt Brush.

Guests were also treated to performances by music genius and looping prodigy Sam Lin, a UC San Diego alumnus, and Grammy-nominated bassist and alumnus Nathan East—who was originally scheduled to perform as a hologram only but surprised attendees with a special live appearance as well.